UC-NRLF 


**Btiy. 


VOLUME    XVI 


rROM   THE   PRESENT'S    orEICE 
UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 


TO  THE 


Number  27 


The 
Ohio  State  University 
Bulletin 

The  Legacy  of  the  American   Revolution 
to  the  British  West  Indies  and  Bahamas 

A  Chapter  out  of  the  History  of  the 
American  Loyalists 


April,   19i: 


PUBLISHED  BY  THE  UNIVERSITY  AT  COLUMBUS 

Entered  as  second-class  matter  November  17,  1905,  at  the  postoffice 
bus,  Ohio,  under  Act  of  Congress,  July  '6,  1894 


The 

Legacy  of  the  American  Revolution 

to  the 

British  West  Indies  and  Bahamas 

A   Chapter  out  of  the  History  of  the 
American  Loyalists 


BY 

WILBUR  H.  SIEBERT,  A.  M 

Professor  of  European  History 


Published  by 

The   Ohio  State  University 

Columbus 

1913 


V* 


17 


Copyrighted,   1913,  b}- 
Wilbur  H.  Siebert 


Contents 

I.     THE  LOYALISTS  IN  EAST  FLORIDA 

Pack 
The  organization  of  loyalist  regiments  in  and  for  East  Florida     6 
Number  of  refugees  in  East  Florida  increased  by  the  evacua- 
tion of  Savannah .  .      7 

Further  increase  of  East  Florida's  population  on  the  evacua- 
tion of  Charleston 8 

St.   Augustine  experiences  a  visitation  of  loyal  Indians 9 

Attitude  of  the  British  government  towards  the  Indians.  ...    10 
Unwillingness  of    loyalist    regiments    to  remove   from  East 
Florida 11 

II.     THE  LOYALISTS  IN  WEST  FLORIDA 

West  Florida  as  a  refuge  for  loyalists 11 

Loyalist  defenders  of  West  Florida 12 

What  became  of  the  loyalists  of  West  Florida 13 

III.     THE  EMIGRATION  OF  LOYALISTS 
TO  JAMAICA 

Early  movement  of  refugees  to  the  West  Indies  and  Bahamas.  1 4 

Emigration  from  Savannah  to  Jamaica  and  other  places.  ...  14 

Emigration  from  Charleston  to  Jamaica 15 

Incompleteness  of  our   information  concerning  the  loyalist 

emigration  from  East  Florida  to  Jamaica 15 

Exodus  from  Honduras,  the  Mosquito  Shore, and  other  places 

to  Jamaica 16 

IV.     THE  LOYALISTS  IN  THE  BAHAMAS 

Spain  gains  and  loses  the  Bahamas 16 

Efforts  to  retain  East  Florida  as  an  asylum  for  the  loyalists.    17 

3 

()  S  U  L  of  A  R    2 


342077 


Pagk 
Visit  to  New  Providence  by  intending  settlers  and  by  Lieu- 
tenant Wilson , 1 8 

Report  by  Lieutenant  Wilson  on  the  availability  of    the  Ba- 
hamas for  colonization 19 

Movement  of  loyalists  from  East  Florida  to  the  Bahamas, 

i783-x785 19 

Colonization  of  Great  Abaco  Island  by  loyalists 20 

Increase    in   population  of  the  Bahamas  by  immigration   of 

the  loyalists 22 

Adventures  of  Colonel  David  Fanning 22 

Conditions  in  the  Island  of  Great  Abaco 24 

Effects  of  the  loyalist  immigration  on  political  conditions  in 

the  Bahamas .  . .  . , 25 

Effects  of  the  movement  on  the  commercial  conditions  in  the 

islands .    26 

Effects  on    agriculture  in  the   islands 27 

How  plantation  life  in  the  Bahamas  was  affected  by  the  loyal- 
ists   .  .    29 

Attitude  of  Parliament  towards  slavery  in  the  Bahama  Islands  31 

The  Wylly  affair 31 

The  struggle  over  an  improved  slave  code  for  the  Bahamas. .    33 
The  end  of  slavery  in  the  islands 33 

V.     THE  LOYALISTS  IN  JAMAICA 

Sir  John  Temple's    plan  to    colonize  the   loyalists   in  Porto 

Ric^ 34 

Legislation  in  Jamaica  for  the  benefit  of  the  loyalists 35 

Protest  against  the  new  legislation  by  older  inhabitants  of 

Jamaica 36 

Distribution  of  loyalists  in  Jamaica 37 

States  from  which  the}7  came,  and  classes  represented  among 

them , 38 

Experiences  of  Dr.  William   Martin  Johnson  and  his  family 

before  and  after  settling  in  Jamaica 39 

Life  of  the  loyalists  in  Jamaica  and  the  other  British  West 

Indies 41 

Slavery  in  Jamaica 43 

4 


VI.     THE  LOSSES  AND  COMPENSATION  OF 
THE  LOYALISTS  IN  THE  ISLANDS 


Page 


Losses  of  loyalist  settlors  in  the  islands  illustrated  by  those 
of  many  refugees  in  Jamaica 44 

Parliament's  measures  for  the  relief  of  the  claimants  from 
East  Florida 45 

Compensation  of  individual  refugees  in  the  islands , .  .    46 

Appointment  of  loyalists  to  office  in  the  islands 47 


The  Legacy  of  the  American  Revolution 
to  the  British  West  Indies  and  Bahamas 


A   Chapter  out  of  the   History  of  the 
American  Loyalists 


I.     The  Loyalists  in  East  Florida 

From  the  beginning  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  Hast  Florida 
served  as  a  retreat  for  loyalist  refugees  from  the  Carolinas  and 
Georgia.  As  early  as  1776,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Thomas  Brown, 
himself  a  fugitive  from  Savannah,  formed  a  regiment,  in  whole  or 
in  part,  of  these  refugees,  which  he  called  the  East  Florida 
Rangers.  This  he  supplemented  in  the  spring  of  1778,  by  engag- 
ing three  hundred  and  fifty  men  from  the  same  colonies  to  defend 
the  frontiers  of  the  peninsula.  These  men  were  organized  at 
first  into  a  regiment  known  as  the  South  Carolina  Royalists  under 
the  command  of  Colonel  Innes,  and  the  next  year  were  re-organ- 
ized as  a  regiment  of  infantry  under  the  title  of  the  King's 
Rangers.1  They  formed  part  of  the  English  force  in  East  Florida, 
as  recounted  by  a  deserter  on  his  arrival  at  Charleston  in  the  early 
summer  of  the  same  year,  a  force  which,  he  said,  also  included 
eight  hundred  regular  troops,  one  hundred  Florida  Rangers,  one 
hundred  and  fifty  provincial  militia,  and  two  hundred  Indians.'2 
All  told  Colonel  Brown  enlisted  as  many  as  twelve  hundred  men, 
if  we  may  credit  his  own  statement  in  a  letter  to  Sir  Guy  Carle- 
ton,  and  of  these  he  proudly  asserted  that  five  hundred  were 
killed  in  the  course  of  the  constant  and  distant  service  in  which 
he  and  his  men  were  engaged  throughout  the  War.8  Doubtless 
most  of  his  recruits  were  gathered  in  Georgia  and  the  Carolinas, 
where  he  conducted  his  campaigns. 

1.  Report  on  the  Am.  Mss.  in  the  Roy.  hist,  of  G.  Brit.,  Ill,  322,  323; 
McCall,  History  of  Georgia,  72. 

2 .  M  c  Cal  1 ,  History  of  Georgia ,  42 1 . 

3.  Report  on  the  Am.  Mss.  in  the  Roy.  Inst,  of  G.  Brit.,  Ill,  323. 

6 


The  loyalist  element  in  East  Florida  was  greatly  increased  by 
the  evacuations  of  Savannah  and  Charleston.  The  former  event 
occurred  in  July,  1782,  7,000  persons  being  turned  adrift  between 
the  twelfth  and  twenty-fifth  of  that  month.  This  host  was  made 
up  of  twelve  hundred  British  regulars  and  loyalists,  five  hundred 
women  and  children,  three  hundred  Indians,  and  five  thousaud 
negroes.  Three  months  later,  Patrick  Tonyn,  governor  of  East 
Florida,  wrote  Carleton  that  the  number  of  settlers  in  his  province 
previous  to  the  surrender  of  Georgia  was  "about  a  thousand  and 
near  three  thousand  blacks,  "that  the  militia  numbered  about  three 
hundred,  and  that  some  five  hundred  of  the  negroes  might  be 
entrusted  with  arms.  "The  Refugees  from  Georgia,"  he  said, 
"are  about  fifteen  hundred  whites  and  a  thousand  negroes;  there 
are  a  few  respectable  families  but  they  consist  chiefly  of  back- 
woodsmen who  are  intolerably  indolent;  perhaps  about  four 
hundred  may  be  found  fit  to  bear  arms,  but  their  appearance  is 
against  them,  their  families  are  in  distress,  and  they  are  exceed- 
ingly dissatisfied.  The  provincial  corps  no  doubt  may  be  com- 
pleted from  them."1 

Prompt  measures  were  taken  to  alleviate  the  condition  of 
these  people  and  to  ascertain  fully  their  number.  Already, 
Colonel  Brown  was  engaged  in  pointing  out  lands  to  them  and 
establishing  them  in  settlements  on  the  St.  John's  River,  and 
Brigadier-General  Archibald  McArthur,  who  was  in  command  in 
East  Florida,  soon  designated  a  committee  of  four  of  the  principal 
refugees — Colonels  Ball  and  Cassells  for  the  Carolinas  and  Colonels 
Tattnall  and  Douglas  for  Georgia  to  take  a  census  of  them  and  to 
superintend  the  distribution  of  provisions  among  them.  By  the 
end  of  October,  their  numbers  were  not  yet  fully  ascertained,  for 
not  all  had  been  able  to  land  on  account  of  the  bad  weather  and 
the  dangerous  bar  in  the  harbor  of  St.  Augustine.2  Meanwhile, 
an  inspector  of  refugees  seemed  a  necessity,  and  John  Winniett 
was  appointed  to  that  office.  His  first  report  covered  arrivals 
from  July  to  the  thirteenth  of  November,  1782,  exclusive  of  those 

1 .  Report  011  the  Am.  Mss.  in  the  Roy.  Inst.  o/G.  Brit.,  Ill,  163,  164 

2.  Ibid.,  140,  192. 


who  had  come  in  before  that  period,  and  showed  a  total  of  3,340 
refugees  and  slaves.1 

Although  the  evacuation  of  Charleston  did  not  occur  until 
December  24,  numbers  of  loyalists,  military  and  civilian,  were 
already  being  sent  from  that  place  to  St.  Augustine  by  the 
middle  of  the  previous  month.  Among  these  were  the  North 
and  South  Carolina  regiments,  the  King's  Rangers,  and  a  body 
of  refugees,  described  as  "distinguished  loyalists"  by  Governor 
Tonyn,  many  of  whom,  he  said,  were  substantial  merchants  and 
planters.  He  accommodated  the  merchants  with  houses  in  town 
and  placed  the  planters  on  lands,  which,  although  previously 
granted  by  the  Crown,  had  not  been  cultivated,  as  required  by 
the  terms  of  the  grant;2  and  as  provisions  were  being  supplied  by 
the  government,  the  chief  need  of  the  new  settlers  was  plantation 
tools.  This  was  the  cause  of  considerable  anxiety  on  the  part  of 
the  provincial  authorities,  and  so  also  was  the  tendency  of  the 
refugees  to  concentrate  in  St. Augustine  and  at  a  place  on  the  St. 
John's  River  known  as  the  Bluff.  Both  Governor  Tonyn  and 
General  McArthur  exerted  themselves  to  prevent  this  concentra- 
tion.8 By  the  middle  of  December,  Charleston  passed  into  the 
possession  of  the  Americans  and  witnessed  the  unhappy  departure 
of  9,121  persons,  not  counting  the  troops.  Of  this  number  3,826 
embarked  for  East  Florida,  1,615  being  whites  and  2,211  blacks. 
On  December  23,  Inspector  Winniett  submitted  a  second  enumer- 
ation of  the  refugees  and  their  slaves  from  Georgia  and  the 
Carolinas:  according  to  its  figures,  the  whites  now  numbered 
2,428  and  the  negroes  3,609,  making  a  total  of  6,037.^  B\-  this 
time,  the  loyalists  who  had  come  with  the  first  convoy  were 
forming  their  settlements  in  the  country,  and  the  much  needed 
tools  were  being  supplied  them.  One  division  of  the  fleet  of 
transports,  under  escort  of  the  Bellisarius,  was  reported  to  have 
brought  in  a  thousand  loyalists  and  fifteen  hundred  negroes.     In 

1.  Report  on  the  Am.  Mss.  in  the  Roy.  Inst,  of  G.  Brit.,  III.  216. 

2.  Ibid.,  64,  112,  220. 

3.  Ibid.,  Ill,  224. 

4.  South  Carolina  Historical  and  Genealogical  Magazine,  Jan.,  1910; 
Mass.  Historical  Society  Miscellaneous  Papers,  iy6g-i/C>j,  l',  139;  McCradv 
History  of  South  Carolina,  674. 

5.  Report  on  the  Am.  Mss  in  the  Roy.  Inst,  of  G .  Brit.,  HI,  276. 


disembarking,  some  small  craft  were  lost  "owing  to  their  rashness 
in  venturing  over  the  bar  without  sufficient  guides."1  A  similar 
fate  awaited  nine  of  the  vessels  in  the  train  of  the  Bellisarius,  when 
she  arrived  off  the  bar  on  her  return  trip  on  December  3] .  Of  the 
1,300  passengers  aboard  this  fleet,  but  four  were  lost.2  Inspector 
Winniet  completed  a  third  enumeration  before  these  1,300  landed; 
but  as  its  figures  are  unknown,  we  are  only  sure  of  the  minimum 
number  of  arrivals  in  East  Florida  during  the  period  from  July, 
1782,  to  the  end  of  the  same  year,  namely,  over  7,30c3  That 
this  number  is  far  short  of  the  actual  gain  in  the  population  of 
the  province  through  the  incoming  of  the  loyalists  is  indicated  by 
the  contrasted  statements  of  Governor  Tonyn  and  General  McAr- 
thur.  In  October,  1782,  as  we  have  already  seen,  the  former 
gave  the  population  as  about  1,000  whites  and  2,000  blacks  before 
the  emigration  from  Georgia.  Seven  months  later,  that  is,  in 
May,  1783,  his  military  colleague  stated  that  the  population  was 
about  16,000,  the  proportion  between  the  two  races  being 
nearly  three  blacks  to  two  whites.  By  this  time,  it  was 
known  of  course  that  the  province  was  to  be  surrendered  to 
Spain.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  it  had  been  retained, and  the  large 
land  grants  to  absentees  could  be  abolished,  McArthur  thought 
that  East  Florida  would  soon  flourish  through  the  presence  of 
the  great  number  of  people  lately  arrived.  He  reported  that 
since  the  evacuation  of  Charleston,  a  little  town,  regularly  laid 
out,  was  forming  at  the  Bluff  on  St.  John's  River,  which  would 
have  soon  risen  to  consequence  on  account  of  the  harbor  being 
safer  there  than  at  St.  Augustine.  As  St.  Mary's  River  possessed 
the  same  advantage,  he  was  convinced  that  numbers  of  people 
would  have  formed  a  town  there  also.4  However,  these  were 
prophesies  that  were  not  to  be  fulfilled  under  loyalist  auspices. 

In  the  midst  of  their  labors  for  the  disembarking  multitudes, 
the  provincial  officers  were  destined  to  experience  a  visitation  of 
Indians  from  far  and  near.  The  question  of  provisions  was 
already  a  pressing  one  when  this  visitation  took  place  in  the  lat- 
ter part  of  December,  1782.  Not  only  hundreds  of  Cherokees, 
Creeks,  and  Choctaws  came  to  St.  Augustine,  but  also  a  great 
deputation  from  Detroit,  on  behalf  of  the  Northern  Indian  nations. 

1.  Report  on  the  Am.  Mss.  in  the  Roy.  Inst,  of  (I  JU  it.,  Ill,  276. 

2.  Ibid.,  319,  395. 

3.  Ibid.,  294,  320. 

4.  Ibid.,  Il',9j,  9«. 

9 


According  to  Tonyn,  this  deputation  comprised  representatives  of 
the  Mohawks,  Senecas,  Delawares,  Shawnees,  Mingoes,  Tuscara- 
was, and  other  tribes.  The  Cherokee  delegation  numbered  twelve 
hundred  and  that  of  the  Choctaws  and  Chicesaws,  six  hundred.1 
We  can  only  surmise  what  may  have  been  the  size  of  the  North- 
ern deputation.  Fortunately,  they  came  on  a  peaceful  mission, 
professing  themselves  firmly  attached  to  the  king's  interest  and 
commissioned  to  confirm  the  southern  tribes  in  the  same  senti- 
ments.2 Conferences  followed  between  these  people  and  the 
Indian  department,  in  which  the  Indians  made  it  clear  that  they 
considered  their  engagements  with  England  as  having  been  ful- 
filled, and  hoped  that  they  would  not  be  abandoned  by  the  great 
King.  Lieutenant-Colonel  Brown,  who  was  superintendent  of 
Indian  affairs,  gave  assurances  of  Britain's  continued  attachment 
to  her  allies,  and  recommended  them  to  desist  from  further  offen- 
sive operations  and  to  devote  themselves  to  hunting  and  trading. 
He  also  obtained  promises  from  the  Cherokees  that  they  would 
remove  their  towns  at  once  to  a  greater  distance  from  the  fron- 
tiers of  Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  and  the  Carolinas,  so  as  to  be  less 
exposed  to  attack.  Meantime,  he  managed  to  keep  all  of  his 
visitors  well  supplied  with  provisions,  and  he  did  not  forget  to 
distribute  presents  among  them  with  an  unstinted  hand.  Being 
well  satisfied  with  their  cordial  reception,  the  assembled  warriors 
soon  departed  with  minds  at  ease.3 

If  the  situation  in  regard  to  the  Indians  was  felt  to  be  criti- 
cal by  the  officers  in  East  Florida — and  it  undoubtedly  was — the 
English  government  also  felt  some  trepidation  about  the  attitude 
the  red  men  in  that  province  would  assume  when  they  should 
learn  of  the  intended  cession  of  this  region  to  Spain.  Accordingly, 
in  February,  1783,  orders  were  sent  from  Whitehall  to  Colo- 
nel Brown  to  have  all  the  officers  of  his  department  withdraw 
with  the  traders  from  the  Indian  country  and  to  distribute  to  its 
denizens  all  presents  remaining  in  the  stores  at  St.  Augustine.4 
This  looked  as  though  Great  Britain  regarded  her  account  with 
r.     Report  on  the  Am.  J/ss.  in  the  Roy.  Inst,  oj  G.  Brit.,  III.  325,  334 

2.  Ibid.,   277,  316,  322. 

3.  Ibid.,  325,  326,  334,  367. 

4.  /dicf.,358. 


the  Florida  Indians  as  virtually  closed.  That  the  Indians  them- 
selves did  not  so  regard  it  is  shown  by  General  Mc Arthur's  com- 
ments concerning  them  in  a  letter  to  Carleton  of  May  19,  1783. 
He  wrote:  "The  minds  of  these  people  appear  as  much  agitated 
as  those  of  the  loyalists  on  the  eve  of  a  third  evacuation ;  and 
however  chimerical  it  may  appear  to  us,  they  have  very  seriously 
proposed  to  abandon  their  country  and  accompany  us,  having 
made  all  the  world  their  enemies  by  their  attachment  to  us."  ! 

Colonel  Brown,  who  wrote  to  the  same  effect,  also  testified 
to  the  past  faithfulness  of  his  proteges,  and  asked  for  vessels  to 
remove  them.  He  received  assurance  that  those  who  persevered 
in  their  demand  would  be  furnished  with  conveyance  to  the 
Bahamas;  but  they  were  to  be  dissuaded,  if  possible,  on  the  score 
that  the  islands  were  not  a  suitable  place  for  them.  This  was 
more  easily  said  than  done,  for  after  an  interval  of  several  months, 
McArthur  still  felt  constrained  to  write  (September  13,  17CS3)  of 
his  apprehensions  that  man}'  of  the  Indians  would  insist  on  accom- 
panying him  to  the  Bahamas.  2 

The  provincial  regiments  in  East'  Florida  did  not  accept  as 
readily  the  prospect  of  their  removal.  This  was  largely  due  to 
the  insinuations  that  reached  them  through  irresponsible  persons, 
namely,  that  they  were  to  be  sent  off  to  the  East  and  West  Indies 
without  their  consent.  The  spread  of  these  rumors  almost  pro- 
duced a  mutiny  among  the  troops,  and  they  demanded  their  dis- 
charge. However,  they  were  promptly  reduced  to  obedience,  and 
the  ringleaders  were  punished.  Later,  they  were  assured  that 
there  was  no  intention  of  deporting  them,  and  that  every  man 
was  to  have  the  liberty  of  going  where  he  pleased,  indeed,  of 
placing  himself  under  the  rule  of  Spain  or  the  United  States,  if  he 
chose.  3 

II.     The  Loyalists  in  West  Florida 

West  Florida  was  out  of  range  of  the  swarms  of  provincial 
troops,  refugees,  and  negroes  sent  down  to  her  sister  province; 
but  she  was  by  no  means  devoid  of  loyal  inhabitants,  and  she 
received  a  considerable  accession  of  incorporated  loyalists    and 

1.  Report  on  the  Am.  Mss.  in  the  Roy.  Inst,  of  G.  Brit.,  //',  89. 

2.  Ibid. 

3.  Ibid,  90,  165. 

II 

O  8  U  L  of  A  R    a 


other  refugees  from  the  colonies  farther  north.  Certain  planters 
of  the  province  presented  a  petition  to  the  House  of  Commons  in 
March,  1787,  in  which  they  stated  that  many  of  their  fellow  colo- 
nials had  joined  the  King's  troops,  while  the  refugees  in  West 
Florida  had  formed  themselves  into  provincial  corps  and  faced  the 
dangers  of  the  field.  1  Among  these  refugees  was  Captain  Rich- 
ard Peavis,  who  after  engaging  four  hundred  men  for  service  in 
the  peninsula  was  forced  to  flee,  he  tells  us,  from  the  vicinity  of 
Charleston  to  Pensacola,  taking  with  him  six  companions.  In 
1777,  he  was  commissioned  a  captain  in  the  West  Florida  Loyal- 
ists by  Colonel  Stuart,  and  was  constantly  employed  thereafter 
until  he  settled  on  St.  John's  River,  East  Florida,  in  1783.  2 
Doubtless,  the  corps  which  Captain  Peavis  joined  was  that  offi- 
cially styled  the  West  Florida  Loyal  Refugees  organized  by 
Colonel  Charles  Stuart,  the  superintendent  of  Indian  affairs  at 
Pensacola,  and  disbanded  at  the  end  of  November,  1779,  by  Major 
General  John  Campbell,  wrho  was  in  command  in  the  province.  'd 
In  the  following  year,  however,  General  Campbell  found  it  expe- 
dient to  enroll  a  new  corps  known  as  the  West  Florida  Royal 
Foresters.  This  troop  remained  in  service  until  its  reduction, 
August  15,  1782.  Evidently,  the  Foresters  were  organized  about 
the  time  the  Spanish  attack  on  Pensacola  wras  expected,  which 
was  as  early  as  May,  1780.  4  That  the  attack  did  not  take  place 
at  this  time  was  parti}7  due,  Campbell  thought,  to  the  presence  of 
a  large  body  of  Indians,  which  had  been  assembled  in  the  town 
for  its  protection.  5 

But  the  defense  of  West  Florida  did  not  fall  alone  upon  the 
Indians  and  the  Royal  Foresters.  Campbell  had  under  his  com- 
mand other  forces,  including  the  third  battalion  of  the  Sixtieth 
Regiment,  the  third  regiment  of  the  Waldeck  troops,  and  the 
United  Corps  of  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland  Loyalists — the  last 
numbering  two  hundred  and  sixty-seven  men,  with  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  William  Allen  at  their  head.  He  also  had  a  company  of 
Military  Batteauxmen,  probably  loyalists,  under  Captain  Miller.  6 

1.  Journals  cj 'the  House  of Commons,  27  Geo.  Ill,  Vol.  XL//,  551,  552. 

2.  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Archives,  Out.,  PL  I,  190,  191. 

3.  Report  on  the  Am.  J/ss.  in  the  Roy.  Inst,  of  G.  Brit.,  II,  159,  160. 

4.  Ibid.,  IV,  445- 

5.  Ibid.,  II  I2if  122. 

6.  Ibid.,  Ill  169,  170. 

12 


According  to  General  Campbell,  these  troops  had  been  left 
without  an  adequate  supply  of  cannon  and  artillery  stores;  but 
they  nevertheless  held  out  for  nearly  two  months  after  Don  Galves 
and  his  Spanish  fleet  entered  the  harbor  of  Pensacola.  When, 
however,  a  well  directed  shot  from  the  blockading  force  exploded 
the  powder  magazine,  the  place  capitulated,  May  9,  1781.1 

What  became  of  the  loyalists  of  West  Florida  at  this  time  is 
difficult  to  discover.  We  are  told  that  part  of  the  garrison  of 
Pensacola  wras  sent  to  New  York;2  and  we  have  information  of  the 
arrival  in  London  of  a  party  of  the  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania 
Loyalists  under  the  command  of  Lieutenant  Inglis.  This  party 
was  made  up  of  invalids  w7ho  desired  admission  to  the  military 
hospital  at  Chelsea  and  set  sail  from  Pensacola  for  that  destina- 
tion in  the  early  months  of  1780.8  Before  the  evacuation  of  the  Xew 
York,  nearly  three  and  a  half  years  later,  the  larger  part  of  the 
Maryland  Loyalists  sailed  in  the; ship  Martha  with  the  fall  fleet  for 
the  Bay  of  Fund}'  to  settle  in  Nova  Scotia;  but  their  vessel  was 
wrecked,  late  in  September,  1783,  off  Tusket  River,  and  over  one 
hundred  lives  were  lost.  "It  is  recorded,"  says  Paul  Leicester 
Ford,  "that  the  troop  stood  drawn  up  in  company  order,  while 
the  women  and  children  were  ordered  into  the  boats,  and  the  few 
survivors  among  the  men  were  chiefly  saved  by  clinging  to 
wreckage."4  In  an  undated  list  of  persons  who  embarked  for 
Nova  Scotia,  probably  aboard  the  fated  transport,  we  find  the 
names  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  James  Chalmers,  organizer  of  the 
troop,  and  Lieutenant-Colonel  William  Allen  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Lovalists.5  Captain  Adam  Chrystie  of  the  Foresters  was  still  in 
Xew  York  City,  November  3,  when  he  signed  a  petition  for  a 
grant  of  land  in  Nova  Scotia.  8  Captain  Richard  Peavis  of  the 
West  Florida  Refugees  found  himself  doomed  to  leave  his  place  of 
settlement    on    the  St.  John's  River,    East  Florida,    and    betook 

1.  Report  on  the  Am.  Jfss.  in  the  Roy.  Inst,  of  G.  Brit.,   II,    2<Sr,  286, 

5i4,  515- 

2.  Orderly  Rook  of  the  "Maryland  Loyalists  Regiment"  12,  n. 

3.  Report  on  the  Am.  Jfss.  in  the  Roy.  Inst.  ofG.  Rril.,  If,    109,    no, 

150. 

4.  Orderly  Rook  of  the  "Maryland  Loyalists  Regiments'1  11;  Report 
on  the  Am.  Mss.  in  the  Roy.  Inst,  of  G.  Brit.,  f  I ',  380,  409,  420,  440. 

5.  Report  on  the  Am.  Jfss.  in  the  Roy.  Inst,  of G.  Rril.,  IT,  479,   105. 

6.  Ibid.,  //',  443- 

13 


himself  to  the  Island  of  Abaco  in  the  Bahamas.  !  A  few  others 
from  West  Florida,  with  their  slaves,  arrived  in  Jamaica  during 
the  summer  of  1783,  settling  chiefly  in  Kingston,  according  to 
the  parish  records  of  that  island.  While  these  are  only  scattered 
instances,  they  serve  to  illustrate  the  vicissitudes  of  the  loyalists 
of  West  Florida  after  the  conquest  of  that  province  by  Spain. 

III.    The    Emigration  of  Loyalists  to  Jamaica 

East  Florida  escaped  subjugation  by  the  Spaniards,  but 
nevertheless  shared  the  fate  of  the  adjoining  district  when  Eng- 
land made  peace  with  Spain.  By  the  treaty  of  Versailles,  the 
latter  country  gained  both  provinces,  but  the  loyalists  preferred 
the  hardships  of  another  removal  rather  than  submit  to  Spanish 
rule.  During  the  earlier  years  of  the  Revolution,  refugees  had 
taken  shelter  under  the  British  flag  in  Jamaica  and  the  Bahamas. 

\  In  October,  1775,  one  of  the  London  papers  gave  currency  to 
the  item  that  several  American  families  had  arrived  in  Jamaica 
with  their  effects  '  'on  account  of  troubles  in  their  own  country. ' '  2 

-^When  Sir  James  Wright,  governor  of  Georgia,   fled  to  England 

^111  March,  1776,  a  considerable  number  of  Georgia  loyalists  took 
their  departure  to  the  West  Indies  and  Bahamas.  It  is  true  that 
some  of  these  returned  after  Governor  Wright  resumed  his  office 
in  the  spring  of  1777,  but  not  all  of  them  did  so.  3 

When  in  July,  1782,  Savannah  was  evacuated,  less  than  half 
of  the  7,000  persons  who  withdrew  from  that  port  went  to  East 
Florida;  Governor  Wright,  with  some  of  the  officers,  civil  and 
military,  and  part  of  the  garrison,  disembarked  at  Charleston; 
Brigadier-General  Alured  Clark  and  part  of  the  British  regulars 
went  to  New  York;  and  the  remainder — described  as  inhabitants 

'  and  their  effects — sailed  to  Jamaica  under  convoy  of  the  frigate 
Zebra.  i  Doubtless,  these  effects  were  mostly  slaves,  for  Mr. 
Wright  and  some  of  his  fellow  loyalists  had  no  less  than  two 
thousand  for  shipment  to  the  island.  The  Governor  explained 
afterwards  that  he  considered  Jamaica  the  best  market  for  his 
VJ-f  Report  oj  the  Bureau  of  Archives,  Out.,  PL,  I,  190,  191. 

2.  Lloyd's  Evening  Post,  Oct.  4-6,  1775. 

3.  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Archives,  Out.,  Pt.  II,  1305;  Audit  Office 
Claims,  IV,  Public  Records  Office,  London. 

4.  Report  on  the  Am.  Mss.  in  the  Roy.  Inst,  of  G.  Brit.,  Ill,  65,  126. 

14 


negroes,  and  that  they  were  in  danger  of  being  stolen  at  Savan- 
nah.1 Probably,  much  more  of  the  same  kind  of  property  was 
transported  to  the  same  destination.  At  any  rate,  Bridges  tells 
us  in  his  Annals  of  Jamaica1  that  the  island  gained  nearly  5,000, 
besides  four  hundred  white  families,  by  the  evacuation  of 
Savannah. 

^v.  When,   inJDecember,  1782,  Charleston  was  surrendered  to  the 

Americans,  3,891  persons  embarked  for  Jamaica,  of  whom  1,278 
were  whites  and  2,613  were  blacks.  At  the  same  time,  twenty 
whites  and  three  hundred  and  fifty  blacks  sailed  for  St.  Lucia.  v 
It  will  be  remembered  that  the  number  carried  from  Charleston 
to  East  Florida  was  almost  equal  to  that  destined  for  Jamaica. 
Of  the  remainder,  two  hundred  and  forty  sailed  for  New  York, 
four  hundred  and  seventy,  for  Halifax,  and  three  hundred  and 
twentyfour,  for  England.8 

What  the  result  of  the  exodus  from  East  Florida  may  have 
been  for  Jamaica  and  the  other  West  Indies  is  not  clear.  At  the 
end  of  July,  1782,  some  of  the  Georgia  refugees  at  St.  Augustine 
memoralized  Carleton,  informing  him  that  there  were  at  least 
4000  people  of  both  races  from  their  colon}'  in  their  neighborhood, 
and  that  they  regarded  the  West  Indies  as  the  only  region  where 
they  could  employ  their  slaves  to  any  advantage.4  But  we  have 
no  means  of  ascertaining  how  many  of  these  people  found  their 
way  to  the  desired  destination.  The  same  uncertainty  appertains 
to  the  various  families  in  New  York  City  who  were  seeking  con- 
>  veyance  to  these  islands  during  the  years  1782  and  1783.5  That 
a  considerable  proportion  of  them  succeeded  in  reaching  their  goal 
admits  of  little  doubt.  Sabine  gives  several  instances  of  Massa- .  ^ 
chusetts  Tories  who  settled  in  Antigua  and  St.  Christophers.6 
Near  the  close  of  May,  1783,  eighty-five  persons  registered  at 
St.  Augustine  to  go  to  Jamaica,  and  a  ship   with  these  refugees, 

1.  Report  on  the  Am.  Mss.  in  the  Roy.  Inst,  of  G.  Brit.,  Ill,  28;   Re- 
port   of  the  Bureau   of    Archives,    Out.,   PL    II  ,i8o6.\^ 

2.  P.   190. 

3.  South  Carolina  Historical  Magazine,  Jan.,  1910,  26. W^ 

4.  Report  on  Am.  Mss.  in  the  Roy  Inst,  of  G.  J  hit.,  Ill,  45. 

5.  Ibid.,  Ill  230,  260,  363,  365;  IV,  161,  228,  234,  374,  399,  480; 
Second  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Archives,  Out.,  Pt.  II,  914,  929,  1132,  1133. 

6.  American  Loyalists,  1847,  551,  587,  221.     *       . 


and  probably  others,  sailed  from  that  place  for  the  island  named 
about  the  twenty-fifth  of  the  following  month.1 

Some  of  the  new  settlers  in  Jamaica  came  also  from 
Honduras  and  the  Mosquito  Shore,  where  the  British  had  colonies 
engaged  in  cutting  logwood  and  mahogany.  The  Spanish  had 
long  regarded  these  people  as  intruders  in  Central  America,  and 
during  the  later  \^ears  of  the  Revolution  attacked  them  with  such 
persistence  as  to  drive  them  out.2  Their  certificates  of  loyalty 
are  still  to  be  found  among  the  official  records  of  their  chosen 
retreat,  and  show  that  they  arrived  at  various  times  during  the 
year  1783,  some  being  accompanied  by  their  slaves.  Their  num- 
bers were  sufficiently  large  to  cause  them  to  be  mentioned  in  cer- 
tain acts  passed  by  the  Assembly  of  Jamaica  in  1783  and  1784.3 
The  certificates  also  bear  testimony  to  the  fact  that  loyalists 
continued  to  come  to  this  island  down  to  1788  from  both  North- 
ern and  Southern  states,  albeit  in  very  small  numbers.  Doubt- 
less, Jamaica  profited  also  by  the  dispersion  of  the  10,000 
refugees  who  were  sent  from  New  York  to  Shelburne,  Nova 
Scotia,  in  the  spring  and  fall  of  1783.  This  dispersion  took 
place  during  the  years  from  1785  to  1788,  inclusive;  and  we  are 
told  by  Mr.  T.  Watson  Smith,  author  of  "The  Loyalists  at 
Shelbmne"  a  paper  showing  careful  and  extensive  investigation, 
that  numbers  of  these  exiles  found  their  way  not  only  to  the 
Canadas  and  Great  Britain,  but  also  to  the  West  Indies.4  The 
above  facts  help  to  explain  the  remarkable  increase  in  population 
of  Jamaica  between  the  years  1775  and  1787.  The  census  for  the 
former  year  showed  18,503  whites,  3,700  free  colored  people,  and 
190,914  slaves;  while  for  the  latter  year  the  figures  are  30,000 
whites,  10,000  free  colored  people,  and  250,000  slaves.'"'  By  17S5 
the  number  of  slaves  had  already  reached  from  220,000  to  240, 
ooo.6 

IV.     The  Loyalists  in  the  Bahamas 

During  the  greater  part  of  the  War — if  we  may  trust  our 
evidence — the    Bahamas  benefitted    but    little  by  the  misfortunes 

1.  Report  on  the  Am.  Mss.  in  the  Roy.   Inst.  ofG.  Brit.,  IV,  92,  93. 

2.  Morris,  The  Colony  of  British  Honduras. 

3.  Acts  of  the  Assembly  of  Jamaica,  1778-1783,  337;  1784-1791 ,  32. 

4.  Collections  of  the  Nova  Scotia  Historical  Society,  1787-8,  57,  63,  65 


85,  86,  88. 


D- 


Gardner,  History  of  Jamaica,   221. 


6.  Martin,  History  of  the  West  Indies,  I,  90. 

16 


of  the  American  refugees.  Moreover,  early  in  May,  1782,  they 
had  the  mishap  to  fall,  like  West  Florida,  into  the  hands  of  Spain. 
But  Spain  was  not  able  to  keep  them  long,  for  in  April,  1783,  Ma- 
jor Andrew  DeVeaux,  a  provincial  officer  of  South  Carolina,  left 
St.  Augustine  with  "a  handful  of  ragged  militia  and  five  pri- 
vateers' '  to  recover  New  Providence.  In  this  he  succeeded,  de- 
spite the  presence  of  five  hundred  Spaniards,  seventy  pieces  of 
cannon,  and  six  galleys.  This  was  the  last  episode  of  the  Revo- 
lutionary War,  which  thus  closed  with  a  British  victory  won  by 
American  loyalists  acting  on  their  own  motion.  The  irony  of  the 
affair  is  enhanced  by  the  circumstance  that  Deveaux's  success 
had  been  anticipated  nine  days  before  by  England's  treaty  with 
Spain,  the  fifth  article  of  which  restored  the  Bahama  Islands  to 
Great  Britain.1  At  the  same  time,  the  treaty  deprived  the  loyal- 
ists of  the  Floridas  as  a  place  of  refuge,  for  it  surrendered  them 
to  the  Spanish  King  The  sole  consolation  of  the  Southern  loyal- 
ists was  that  the  ill  wind  that  swept  them  from  their  last  retreat 
on  the  mainland  was  to  bear  them  to  the  neighboring  islands, 
including  the  Bahamas. 

The  first  intimation  of  the  intended  evacuation  of  East 
Florida  reached  Governor  Ton)m  as  early  as  June,  1782,  and 
caused  him  much  surprise  and  sorrow;  while  it  produced  nothing 
less  than  consternation  among  the  loyalists,  both  old  inhabitants 
and  refugees.  The  Assembly  of  Georgia  remonstrated  against 
the  proposal,  recommending  that  the  territory  be  kept  as  an  asy- 
lum for  the  loyalists.  The  Assembly  of  East  Florida  asked 
for  some  defense  in  case  the  troops  should  be  withdrawn,  and 
resolved  to  stand  by  the  Governor  in  preserving  the  allegiance 
of  the  province.  Tonyn  took  up  with  Carleton  the  question  of 
the  removal  of  the  garrison  from  St.  Augustine,  and  secured  his 
consent  to  a  delay.  He  was  thus  encouraged  to  hope  that  the 
King  would  find  a  wray  of  retaining  the  province  permanently, 
and,  doubtless,  this  hope  was  still  further  encouraged  by  Carle- 
ton's  instructions  to  grant  lands  free  of  quit  rent  to  officers  and 
soldiers  desirous  of  settling  in  East  Florida  on  the  establishment 
of  peace. - 

1.  Report  on  the  Am.  Mss.  in  the  Roy.   Inst,  of  G.  Brit.,   IV,   vi,    vii, 
93,  128,  169,  i>47,  293,  351. 

2.  Ibid.,  II,  513,  520,  527,  52S,  529,  530,  531,  546;  III,  19,  417. 

17 


However,  the  publication  of  the  peace  rudely  destroyed  any 
such  expectations.  It  only  left  the  loyalists  a  choice  between 
living  under  Spanish  rule,  which  they  greatly  dreaded,  and  pre- 
serving their  fealty  by  withdrawing  to  some  British  possession. 
By  the  eighth  article  of  the  treaty,  those  subjects  of  England 
who  proposed  to  remove  were  allowed  eighteen  mouths  in  which 
to  collect  their  debts,  sell  their  property,  and  leave  the  country. 
Tonyn  received  orders  to  cooperate  with  Mc Arthur  in  effecting 
the  evacuation  in  conformity  with  this  provision,  and  made 
proclamation  accordingly.1  Judging  by  the  official  correspondence 
that  has  come  down  to  us,  these  measures  did  not  produce  a  marked 
effect  at  once.  We  have  already  seen  that  a  single  ship  was 
sufficient  to  carry  those  who  embarked  at  St.  Augustine  near  the 
end  of  June,  1783,  for  Jamaica.  It  may  be  added  that  two  vessels 
sufficed  for  those  taking  passage  for  England,  and  that  while 
ninety  signed  to  go  to  New  Providence,  no  reference  is  made  to 
their  departure  at  this  time.2  This  disinclination  on  the  part  of 
the  loyalists  to  proceed  to  the  Bahamas  was  due  to  a  lack  of 
information  about  the  conditions  obtaining  ttiere.  Hence,  some 
of  the  intending  settlers  of  New  Providence  went  to  find  out  what 
they  could  about  these  conditions,  and  were  soon  followed  by 
Lieutenant  Wilson,  of  the  Engineers,  who  was  officially  dispatched 
from  St.  Augustine  for  the  same  purpose.  The  report  made  by 
the_fonner  was  not  very  favorable,  and  is  embodied  in  a  letter 
of  McArthur  of  September  7:  it  represented  that  the  soil 
was-xocky  and  that  there  were  "no  tracts  of  land  contiguous 
where  any  considerable  number  of  negroes  could  be  employed." 
On  Wilson's  return,  he  found  instructions  from  Robert  Morse, 
chief  engineer  at  New  York,  extending  his  tour  of  inspection  to 
all  of  the  Bahamas,  evidently  in  compliance  with  a  request  of 
Carleton,  who  had  recommended  to  the  British  goverment  that 
any  lands  ungranted  or  escheated  in  the  islands  be  given  free  of 
expense  to  those  loyalists  who  had  lost  their  property  through 
their  allegiance,  and  should  choose  the  Bahamas  as  a  place  of 
settlement.8      Lieutenant  Wilson  was  therefore  sent  back  to  the 

*\.     Report  on  the  Am.   JIss.  in  the  Roy.  Inst.   o/G.  Brit.,  IV,  57,  93. 

2.  Ibid.,  IV,  92,  93. 

3.  Ibid.,  IV,  158,204,  233,  340,  vii,  224,  233,  247,  248,  351. 

18 


islands,  and  gathered  the  information  for  an  extended  report 
that  proved  to'  be  more  reassuring  than  that  of  the  prospective 
settlers  in  New  Providence. 

Indeed,  this  report  left  little  doubt  concerning  the  availability 
of  the  Bahamas  for  colonization  by  the  refugees. '  It  ascribed  the 
uncultivated  condition  of  the  islands  to  the  indolence  of  the 
inhabitants,  who  contented  themselves,  it  declared,  with  what- 
ever nature  produced  by  her  unaided  efforts.  They  took  no  trouble 
to  clear  the  land,  but  planted  small  patches  of  Guinea  corn, 
yams,  and  sugar  cane,  which  they  left  without  futher  care  until 
the  crop  was  ready  to  be  gathered.  It  asserted  that  pineapples, 
oranges  lemons,  limes,  cocoa,  and  other  fruits  common  to  the 
West  Indies  would  readily  grow  in  the  Bahamas,  and  maintained 
that  the  soil  had  never  been  put  to  a  fair  test,  such  as  it  would 
now  be  subjected  to  by  the  new  settlers.  It  did  not  attempt  to 
conceal  the  fact  that  the  islands  were  rocky  and  the  surface  rough, 
but  called  attention  to  the  three  kinds  of  soil  existing  there,  one 
adapted  to  the  growth  of  cotton,  another  to  the  raising  of  vegeta- 
bles of  all  kinds,  and  the  third  to  the  production  of  Guineacorn.  ! 

Reassuring  as  this  report  proved  to  be,  it  came  too  late  to 
start  the  movement  of  the  loyalists  from  Florida  to  the  Bahamas. 
The  event  that  gave  the  impetus  to  this  movement  was  the  arrival 
of  some  government  transports  and  victuallers  at  St.  Augustine  on^ 
September  12,  1783.  By  this  time  many  of  the  loyalists  had  be- 
come convinced  that  they  could  no  longer  stand  on  the  order  of 
their  going,  but  must  go  at  once.  Two  days  later  a  number  of 
them  applied  to  McArthur  for  conveyance  to  the  islands  for  them- 
selves and  their  negroes.2  Unfortunately,  we  are  left  in  ignor- 
ance as  to  the  success  or  failure  of  their  application.  But  as  Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Brown  and  most  of  his  regiment  of  Hast  Florida 
Rangers,  together  with  a  few  of  the  men  of  the  North  and  South 
Carolina  regiments,  made  their  decision  in  favor  of  the  Bahamas 
at  this  time,  it  is  highly  probable  that  conveyance  was  supplied 
to  all  those  desiring  it.      Of  the  North  Carolina  corps,  however, 

1.  Stark,  History  and  Guide  to  the  Bahama  Islands,   172,  173. — 

2.  Report  on  the  Am.  J/~ss.  in  the  Roy.   Inst.  ofG.  />rit.y  I\\  351,  356. 


o  S  U  L  of  a  R 


more  than  half  asked  for  passage  to  Nova  Scotia,  while  nearly 
two-thirds  of  the  South  Carolina  corps  chose  to  be  discharged 
from  service  in  St.  Augustine.1  Although  we  catch  but  few 
glimpses  of  what  was  taking  place  in  East  Florida  during  the 
remainder  of  the  time  allowed  for  its  evacuation,  we  can  scarcely 
doubt  that  parties  of  varying  size,  some  in  small  vessels  supplied 
b»x -themselves,  were  embarking  from  time  to  time  for  the  Bahamas 
and  the  neighboring  islands.  This  exodus  was  encouraged  not 
only  by  Wilson's  report,  and  by  the  means  of  transportation 
provided  by  the  Crown,  but  also  by  the  favorable  conditions 
offered  to  those  whowished  to  settle  in  the  archipe  ago. 
According  to  instructions  issued  to  Lieutenant-Governor 
Powell,  September  10,  1784,  he  was  to  grant  unoccupied  lands  in 
the  Bahamas  as  follows:  "To  every  head  of  a  family,  fort}'  acres, 
and  to  every  white  or  black  man,  woman  or  child  in  a  family, 
twenty  acres,  at  an  annual  quit  rent  of  2s.  per  hundred  acres. 
But  in  the  case  of  the  Loyalist  refugees  from  the  continent  such 
lands  wrere  to  be  delivered  free  of  charges,  and  wrere  to  be  exempted 
frolrfjthe  burden  of  the  quit  rents  for  ten  years  from  the  date  of 
making  the  grants."  These  instructions  were  issued  none  too 
soon,  for  only  fifteen  days  afterwards  a  number  of  transports  and 
ordinance  vessels  arrived  at  Xassau  wTith  the  garrison  and  military 
stores  of  St.  Augustine.  With  this  fleet  came  McArthur,  whom 
Carleton  had  placed  in  command  of  the  Bahamas  for  the  time 
being.  Within  a  few  days  there  arrived  also  "seven  ships  and  two 
brigs  crowded  with  refugees."  We  are  told  that  the  stream  of 
loyalists  continued  to  pour  into  the  islands  during  the  early 
months  of  the  following  year,  Spain  having  extended  by  four 
months  the  period  allowed  for  the  withdrawal  of  British  subjects 
from  Florida.  Even  this  concession  proved  barely  sufficient,  for 
Governor  Tonyn  appropriated  a  few  days  of  grace  by  making 
announcement  that  the  last  transport  would  leave  the  port  of  St. 
Mary's  River,  on  March  1,  1785.  He  advised  all  persons  of  Eng- 
lish blood  to  leave  East  Florida  for  the  Bahamas  before  the  Span- 
ish governor  took  possession.  - 

1.  Report  on  the  Am.  Mss.  in  the  Roy.  Inst.  0/  G.  Brit.,  IV,  351. 

2.  Geographical  Society  of  Baltimore,  The  Bahama  Islands,  424;  North- 
croft,  Sketches  of  Snmmerland,  281;  Campbell,  Histo/ical  Sketches  of 
Colonial  Florida,    142;    Fairbanks,    History  of  Florida,   239. 

20 


But  East  Florida  was  not  the  only  important  source  of  the 
multitudes  coming  to  settle  in  the  Bahama  Islands  during  our 
period.  From  New  York  City,  Carleton  sent  more  tnan  i,4<x>4*V 
persons,  who  had  associated  themselves  to  colonize  the  Island  of 
Abaco.  On  August  10,  1783,  Brook  Watson,  commissary-general 
at  New  York,  reported  that  most  of  this  party — or,  in  his  own 
words,  "near  a  thousand  souls" — were  ready  to  embark.  He 
saw  to  it  that  they  were  supplied  with  provisions  sufficient  to 
serve  them  for  six  months  after  their  arrival,  and  recommended 
Phillip  Dumaresq,  a  Boston  loyalist,  as  commissary  to  accompany 
them  and  distribute  the  provisions.  This  recommendation  was 
carried  into  effect,  and  Dumaresq  probably  sailed  with  the  first 
contingent,  which  left  New  York  sometime  before  August  22. 
Other  refugees  embarked  at  the  same  time  for  Cat  Island . 
Carleton  now  shipped  provisions  for  an  additional  six  months, 
and  instructed  Mc Arthur  to  do  everything  in  his  power  for  the 
exiles.  During  the  month  of  October,  two  additional  contingents 
of  the  associators  got  ready  to  sail,  one  of  those  numbering  five 
hundred  and  nine  persons.  All  told,  1,458  loyalists  embarked  at 
New  York  for  Abaco,  according  to  an  official  return  of  the  Com- 
missary-General, dated  two  days  before  the  British  troops  evac- 
uated that  port.1  This  number  does  not  include  eight  com- 
panies of  militia  sent  from  New  York  to  the  Bahamas  in  October 
17S3.2  That  Abaco  derived  part  of  its  settlers  from  East  Florida 
is  indicated  by  a  memorial,  addressed  to  Carleton  in  June  of  the 
year  just  named,  by  some  of  the  New  York  associators.  This 
memorial  stated  that  many  persons  from  St.  Augustine  were 
expected  to  join  the  new  colony,  and  another  memorial,  published 
in  New  York  about  the  same  time,  announced  more  explicitly 
that  the  number  of  loyal  inhabitants  of  East  Florida  who  had 
actually  engaged  to  take  part  in  the  settlement  of  Abaco  was 
upwards  of  i,5oo.:5  On  October  21,  Carleton  communicated  to 
Major-General  Edward  Mathew,  commandant  of  the  British 
West  Indies,  that  he  expected  adherents  of  the  Crown  to  remove 
from  East  Florida  to  the  Bahamas  during  the  following  winter, 
and    oidered  him  to  send  six  months  provisiors  for  2,000  men  to 

1.  Report  on  the  Am.  Mss.  in  the  Roy.  Inst,  of  G.  Jn't.,  I\\  470,  271, 
272,  283,  407,  437,  x. 

2.  I  but.,  398. 

3.  Report  on  the  Am.    Mss.   in  the  Roy.    Inst,    of  (7.    Brit.,   Il\    188 • 
Manual  of  the  Corporation  of  the  City  of  New  York,  1870,  791. 

21 


New  Providence,  in  addition  to  the  supplies  that  had  been  already 
sent  from  New  York.  He  hoped  thus  to  provide  a  quantity 
sufficient  to  subsist  the  new  settlers  until  they  should  be  able  to 
raise  their  own  produce.1 

It  is  difficult  to  estimate  the  increase  in  population  of  the 
Bahamas  due  to  the  immigration  of  the  loyalists.  Bryan  Edwards, 
writing  at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century,  does  not 
attempt  it,  but  contents  himself  with  telling  us  that  the  inhabitants 
who  in  1773  numbered  2,052  whites  and  2,241  blacks  were  ''con- 
siderably augmented"  by  the  emigrants  from  North  America.  - 
Northcroft,  writing  in  1900,  is  more  positive:  he  states  that  be- 
fore the  emigration  there  were  only  1,750  white  people  in  the 
colony  and  2,303  colored;  but  that  the  influx  of  refugees  raised 
the  number  of  the  former  to  3,500  and  the  latter  to  6,50o.:i  Dr. 
Wright,  who  investigated  the  subject  in  1905,  seems  to  accept 
these  figures.4  But,  according  to  a  census  of  1782,  in  which  seven  of 
the  islands  are  named,  the  total  number  of  inhabitants  was  4,002, 
less  then  one  quarter  being  negroes.  In  the  light  of  the  evidence 
presented  in  this  paper,  it  seems  safe  to  say  that  the  Bahama 
Islands  gained  between  6,000  and  7,000  inhabitants  of  both  races 
from  June,  1783,  to  April,  1785. 

One  of  those  who  came  to  the  Bahamas  later  than  most  of 
the  others  loyalists  was  Colonel  David  Fanning  of  North  Car- 
olina, who  received  his  commission  in  the  Loyal  Militia  of 
Randolph  and  Chatham  Counties  in  July,  1781.5  It  is  true  that 
Colonel  Fanning  remained  only  a  short  time  in  the  islands;  but 
his  adventures  between  the  evacuation  of  Charleston  and  his 
arrival  at  Nassau,  serve  to  illustrate  vividly  the  vicissitudes  of  the 
Southern  refugees  during  this  trying  period.  At  the  end  of 
September,  1782,  Fanning  and  his  wife  were  at  Charleston,  where 
the  shipping  was  ready  for  those    desiring  to    embark    for    St. 

1.  Report  on  the  Am.  Mss.  in  the  Roy.  Inst,  of G.  Brit.,  IV,  420,  421. 

2.  History  of  the  West  Indies,  II,  199,  2oo;Ivucas,  Historical  Geography 
of  the  British  Colonies,  II,  80,  ;/. 

3.  Sketches  in  Summcrland,  282. 

4.  History  oj  the  Bahama  Islands,  425. 

5.  Fanning' s  Narrative,   1908,  17;   Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Archives 
Ont.,  Pt  ,  /,  241 

22 


Augustine.  Man}'  loyalists  had  previously  signed  to  go  under 
his  direction  to  East  Florida.  Accordingly,  he  ordered  them  to 
embark,  and,  on  November  6,  went  on  board  the  transport  New 
Blessing,  whose  name  doubtless  seemed  something  of  a  mockery 
before  that  vessel  sailed  eight  days  later.  On  November  17,  the 
convoy  cast  anchor  off  the  Florida  coast,  and  there  laid  eight  days 
more  before  its  weary  passengers  could  go  ashore.  After  another 
but  briefer  delay,  Fanning  was  able  to  get  his  effects  landed  at  a 
point  about  twenty-seven  miles  from  St.  Augustine  on  the 
Matangeys,  where  he  thought  of  settling.  Becoming  dissatisfied 
there,  he  went  next  to  a  more  distant  locality  on  the  Halifax 
River  to  established  a  plantation,  for  which  he  had  a  supply  of 
negroes. 

In  February,  1783,  having  met  Major  Deveaux,  who  was 
collecting  volunteers  for  his  expedition  to  capture  New  Provid- 
ence, Colonel  Fanning  agreed  to  join  him,  and  raised  thirty  men 
for  the  purpose;  but  through  some  oversight  was  left  behind. 
Later,  several  of  the  Colonel's  slaves  took  sick  and  died,  thereby 
destroying  his  hopes  of  establishing  a  plantation.  He,  therefore, 
moved  into  St.  Augustine,  but  only  to  fall  desperately  ill 
himself.  Shortly  after  his  recovery  from  this  sickness,  the  news  of 
the  peace  reached  East  Florida,  and  the  evacuation  of  that  prov- 
ince was  ordered.  At  the  same  time,  the  ships  came  that  were  to 
carry  the  provincial  troops  to  Nova  Scotia;  but  Fanning's  personal 
property  was  still  in  the  country,  and  he  had  not  yet  decided 
where  he  wished  to  go.  Before  settling  this  point,  he  visited  the 
Mosquito  Shore,  and  received  from  its  inhabitants  a  petition 
addressed  to  Governor  Tonyn,  under  date  of  January  24,  1784. 
This  petition  asked  for  a  schooner  to  transport  the  inhabitants  to 
East  Florida  before  the  intended  surrender  of  that  province,  as 
the  petitioners  desired  to  leave  with  the  other  loyalists.  Fanning 
delivered  this  message  to  the  Governor,  and  appears  to  have 
carried  back  in  person  the  latter's  reply,  namely,  that  the  inhabit- 
ants must  get  to  the  shipping  as  best  as  they  could,  inasmuch  as 
there  were  no  government  vessels  available  to  send  for  them.  In 
a  speech  that  Fanning  made  to  these  people,  he  declared  that  the 
loyalists  had  been  sacrificed  to  the  indignation  of  their  enemies, 
and  that  nothing  was  to  be  expected  of  Great  Britain.      He,  there- 

23 


fore,  advised  his  hearers  to  throw  themselves  on  the  mercy  of  the 
vSpaniards,  and  announced  his  own  intention  of  betaking  himself 
to  the  farthest  limits  of  West  Florida,  in  order  to  settle  "at  or 
near  Fort  Notches  [Natchez]  on  the  Mississippi  River." 

That  this  was  not  idle  talk  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  Colonel 
Fanning  set  out,  March  20,  1784,  from  St.  Augustine,  with  seven 
families,  his  wife,  and  two  negroes,  all  in  open  boats,  for  the 
Mississippi  country.  After  sailing  one  hundred  and  sixty  miles, 
he  lost  sight  of  his  companions,  and  never  saw  them  afterwards, 
although  he  waited  for  them  twelve  days,  he  tells  us,  at 
"Scibersken."  From  that  point,  he  journeyed  to  Key  West, 
where  he  was  detained  by  a  gale  for  more  than  a  fortnight. 
There  he  met  a  Spanish  schooner,  and  was  warned  that  his  boat 
was  too  small  for  the  voyage  he  was  undertaking,  and  that  he 
stood  a  poor  chance  of  escaping  death  at  the  hands  of  the  Indians. 
Thereupon,  he  sailed  back  to  one  of  the  other  keys,  where  he 
found  an  Italian  skipper  from  New  Providence,  engaged  in 
catching  turtles.  Fanning  discovered  this  man  to  be  untrust- 
worthy and  grasping,  but,  having  no  other  alternative,  engaged 
passage  with  him  at  an  exorbitant  price.  Fortunately,  however, 
the  arrival  of  several  other  seaman  from  the  Bahamas,  on  July 
12,  enabled  Colonel  and  Mrs.  Fanning  to  make  the  voyage  to 
New  Providence  with  a  captain  who  showed  them  every  attention. 
Landing  at  Nassau,  the  Fannings  remained  there  only  twenty 
days,  and  then  sailed  for  New  Brunswick,  where  they  cast 
anchor,  September  23,  1784.  The}'  departed  a  month  later  for 
Halifax.  Nova  Scotia,  with  a  view  to  obtaining  land  for  settle- 
ment.1 

Abaco,  which  probably  received  a  greater  share  of  the  immi- 
grants than  any  of  the  other  Bahamas,  is  the  largest  island  of 
the  group,  and  one  of  the  most  fertile.  Philip  Dumaresq,  who 
remained  there  as  commissary  for  more  than  a  year  and  a  half ,  gives 
some  particulars  regarding  the  island,  which  enable  us  to  identify 
it  with  Great  Abaco:  the  length  of  the  island,  he  says,  is  about  a 
hundred  miles,  and  in  shape  it  "forms  an  elbow."  He  found 
the  climate  delightful,  but  noted  that  the  soil  was  so  shallow 
that  in  a  dry  season  the  sun  heated  the  rock  underneath  and 
burned  up  any  vegetables  that  had  been  planted.  He  also  recorded 
1.  Planning' s  Narrative,  1908,  37-46. 

24 


that  an  unusual  drought  had  prevailed  almost  from  the  time 
the  loyalists  had  arrived  there.  He  wrote  that  Guinea  corn, 
potatoes,  yams,  turnips,  and  other  garden  produce  would  grow 
very  well,  together  with  such  fruits  as  oranges,  limes,  and 
plantains  (bananas),  and  that  cotton  would  thrive;  but  he  com- 
plained that  the  settlers  were  all  poor,  had  not  the  strength  to 
do  much,  and  that  he  had  .seen  no  fresh  meat,  except  pork,  since 
his  arrival.  However,  poultry,  he  said,  could  be  raised  in  plenty. 
The  abundance  of  wild  grapes  convinced  him  that  good  wines 
might  be  produced,  and  he  was  told  that  indigo  could  be  cultivated 
successfully.  He  and  his  family  did  not  find  the  people  of  Abaco 
at  all  congenial,  and  he  speaks  of  them  in  no  complimentary 
terms  in  the  letter  to  his  father-in-law,  Dr.  Sylvester  Gardiner, 
the  Boston  loyalist,  from  which  we  glean  our  informant's  impres- 
sions of  the  island  and  its  occupants;  on  the  other  hand,  the  Com- 
missary had  nothing  but  good  words  for  the  treatment  accorded 
him  by  John  Maxwell,  governor  of  the  Bahamas,  and  Gen- 
era! McArthur.  These  gentlemen,  he  testified,  treated  him  only 
with  the  greatest  politeness,  and  the  former  appointed  him  a  mag- 
istrate in  order,  he  declared,  to  keep  him  from  being  "insulted 
by    the  Abaco  Blackguards."  1 

If,  however,  Governor  Maxwell  showed  himself  kindly  dis- 
posed towards  this  lone  loyalist  officer,  he  yet  exhibited  an 
unmistakable  prejudice,  which  he  shared  with  the  older  inhabi- 
tants, towards  the  new  element  in  the  colony.  The  coming  of  the 
loyalists  thus  brought  with  it  factional  feeling — feeling  that  grew 
so  pronounced  ere  long  as  to  lead  the  new  settlers  to  disavow 
openly  any  responsibility  for  an  address  of  regret  presented  to 
the  Governor  when  he  surrendered  his  office,  and  returned  to  Eng- 
land in  the  summer  of  1785.  The  Americans  promptly  became 
the  party  of  opposition  to  the  existing  government  in  the  islands: 
they  criticized  the  administration,  accused  Governor  Maxwell  of 
attempting  to  withold  from  them  the  right  of  trial  by  jury,  and 
of  other  conduct  which  they  characterized  as  tyrannical.  They 
also  found  fault  with  some  of  the  laws,  on  the  ground  that  they 
were  repugnant  to  those  of  the  mother  country,  and  they  de- 
manded reform.       The  elections  of  1785  gave  the   loyalists  some 

1.  The  Gardiner,  Whipple,  and  Allen  Letters,  Vol.11,  49.  (In  the 
Library  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  in  Boston.) 

25 


members  in  the  House  of  Assembly,  but  the  native  population 
was  still  in  control  there;  and  when  several  members,  who  favored 
the  new  party,  withdrew  from  the  House  and  persisted  in  absent- 
ing themselves  against  the  House's  orders,  they  were  declared 
to  be  no  longer  eligible  to  seats  in  that  body.  The  lo}'alists 
sent  a  petition  to  the  Assembly  asking  for  its  dissolution,  which, 
after  being  read,  was  handed  over  to  the  common  hangman  to  be 
burned  before  the  door  of  the  House. 

By  the  latter  part  of  1786,  the  Americans  had  become  the 
stronger  party  in  the  Bahamas;  but  the  Earl  of  Dunmore,  who 
succeeded  to  the  governorship  at  this  time,  pursued  the  same 
policy  as  his  predecessor.  He  received  petitions  from  New 
Providence,  Abaco,  Exuma,  and  Cat  Island,  again  praying  that 
the  Assembly  be  dissolved;  but,  as  he  declined  to  accede  to 
them,  that  body  lasted  about  eight  years  longer,  or  until  the  end 
of  Dunmore's  administration.  Then,  finally,  an  act  was 
passed  that  limited  the  life  of  a  legislature  to  seven  years. 

Up  to  1787,  the  title  of  the  lands  of  the  Bahamas  had  been 
vested  in  the  Lords  Proprietors  of  the  islands.  Now,  however, 
the  proprietary  rights  of  these  gentlemen  passed  to  the  Crown 
"on  the  payment  of  ,£2,000  to  each  of  them."  Henceforth,  the 
King  would  exercise  the  rights  of  granting  lands  and  collecting 
quit  rents,  although  this  was  to  be  with  less  success,  insofar  as  the 
quit  rents  were  concerned,  then  under  the  Lords  Proprietors.1 

Besides  affecting  political  conditions  in  the  colony,  the  influx 
of  the  loyalists  had  a  marked  effect  upon  the  commercial,  agricul- 
tural, and  social  conditions  of  the  archipelago.  By  1800  the  town 
of  Nassau  alone  had  a  population — a  little  more  than  3,000 — 
equal  to  the  whole  population  of  the  only  islands  inhabited  thirty 
years  before,  namely,  New  Providence,  Eleuthera,  and  Harbor 
Island.  The  exports  of  Nassau  are  said  to  have  amounted  only 
to  ,£5,200  for  the  years  1773  and  1774,  and  her  imports  to  £'3,600 
for  the  same  period;  while  for  1786  and  1787  the  former  had 
increased  in  value  to  ,£5,800,  exclusive  of  the  large  amount  of 
bullion  exported,  and  the  latter  to  ,£136,360.  McKinnen,  who 
made  a  tour  of  the  Bahamas  in  1802  and  1803,  reports  that  six 
square-rigged  vessels  were  seen  at  one  time  in  Nassau  harbor  laden 
1.  Fiske,  The  West  Indies.  125;  Geographical  Society  of  Baltimore, 
The  Bahama  Islands,   426. 

26 


with  cotton  for  London,  and  tells  us  that  during  many  years 
previous  the  exports  of  this  commodity  amounted  to  several  hun- 
dred tons  per  annum.  He  also  notes  that  the  town  was  fre- 
quently visited  while  he  remained  there  by  African  slave-ships, 
some  of  which  disposed  of  their  cargoes  on  the  island.  The 
principal  trade  of  Nassau,  McKinnen  says,  was  carried  on  with 
England,  the  southern  islands  in  the  West  Indies,  and  the  United 
vStates,  whence  it  derived  continual  supplies  of  live  stock  and 
provisions.1  The  same  authority  states  that  the  exports  from  the 
islands  included  salt,  turtles,  mahogany,  dye  and  other  woods 
and  barks.  Wrecking  was  also  a  source  of  considerable  income, 
since  wrecks  were  continually  occurring  among  the  Bahamas. - 

Agriculture,  even  more  than  commerce,  was  given  a  new 
impetus  by  the  American  refugees,  many  of  whom  were  planters 
from  the  South,  accompanied  by  a  considerable  number  of 
their  slaves.  It  did  not  take  these  experienced  cotton  raisers 
long  to  clear  lands  and  plant  their  crops.  "It  is  said  that  fifteen 
years  after  their  arrival,  forty  plantations,  with  between  2,000  and 
3,000  acres  in  cotton  fields,  had  been  established  on  Crooked  Island 
alone,  and  that  on  Long  Island,  which  was  settled  at  an  earlier 
date,  and  which  had  been  more  extensively  improved,  there  were 
in  1783  nearly  4,000  acres  in  cultivation.  The  combined  yield 
from  Long  Island  and  Exuma  for  one  year  was  estimated  at  over 
600  tons."  McKinnen  found  that  the  planters — most  of  whom 
came  from  Georgia,  according  to  his  account — had  brought  with 
them  different  varieties  of  seed,  especially  the  Persian,  but  that 
Anguilla  cotton  was  being  more  generally  cultivated  at  the  time 
of 'his  visit.  It  was  customary  to  assign  not  more  than  four  acres 
of  Persian  plants  to  each  working  slave,  while  five  or  six  acres 
formed  the  usual  allotment  on  the  plantations  where  the  Anguilla 
cotton  was  being  grown.  The  best  crops  were  secured  from  the 
higher  lands,  and  amounted  to  one-half  or  three-fourths  of  a  ton 
of  clean  lint  for  each  working  slave  on  some  estates,  although  the 
average  yield  was  about  one-sixth  of  a  ton  or  less.     Another  crop 

1.  Geographical  Society  of  Baltimore,  The  Bahama  Islands.  148; 
McKinnen,  Tour  Through  the  British  West  Indies,  216,  217;  Northcroft, 
Sketches  of"  Summerland,  282;  McKinnen,  Tour  Through  the  British  West 
Indies,  218,  219. 

2.  Geographical  Society  of  Baltimore,  The  Bahama  Islands,  /  /<;. 

27 


that  was  universally  cultivated  was  Guinea  corn.  The  produc- 
tion of  cotton,  however,  was  not  destined  to  be  permanently  suc- 
cessful. When  McKinnen  visited  the  islands  in  1S02-1803,  he 
found  the  plantations  on  Crooked  Island  for  the  most  part 
deserted,  and  the  proprietors  generally  despondent  over  the  agri- 
cultural outlook.  Mr.  Charles  N.  Mooney  of  the  United  States 
Bureau  of  Soils,  who  has  thoroughly  investigated  this  subject, 
thinks  that  the  same  conditions  probably  prevailed  in  all  the  other 
islands,  and  proceeds  to  explain  that  the  failure  of  cotton  was  due 
chiefly  to  the  attacks  of  insects,  but  that  other  causes  were  also 
operative,  as  disclosed  by  a  committee  of  planters  who  looked 
into  the  matter  at  the  time.  This  committee  reported  as  additional 
causes  for  the  failure  of  cotton  growing,  '  'the  use  of  land  unsuited 
to  its  culture,  the  injudicious  and  wasteful  methods  of  clearing 
the  land,  and  the  exhaustion  of  the  soil  by  unremitted  tillage." 
The  result  appears  to  have  been  a  marked  decline  in  the  produc- 
tion of  cotton  after  the  year  1805,  together  with  a  decrease  in  the 
value  of  land  and  slaves.1  These  conditions  led  inevitably  to  the 
emigration  of  some  of  the  planters  with  their  negroes  before  the 
exportation  of  slaves  from  the  British  colonies  was  prohibited, 
and  to  attempts  at  securing  the  right  to  emigrate  with  them 
after  the  slave  trade  was  abolished  in  1807.  These  conditions^ 
serve  to  explain  the  return  to  Florida  of  a  body  of  loyalists  who 
formed  a  settlement  at  New  Smyrna,  although  they  soon  aban- 
doned this  place  to  seek  homes  in  the  States  on  account  of  the 
distasteful  policy  of  the  Spanish  administration.2  The  news  of 
the  activity  of  the  opponents  of  slaver)7  in  England,  which  did 
not  reach  the  Bahamas  until  18 15,  must  have  had  a  further 
demoralizing  effect  upon  cotton  culture  in  the  islands;  and  when 
slavery  was  abolished  in  1834  cotton  ceased  to  be  an  important 
crop.  We  are  told  that  the  fine  estates  that  had  been  built  up 
were  now  deserted  and  that  the  owners  either  moved  to  Nassau 
or  left  the  islands  altogether.3  When  emancipation  was  declared 
the  Bahama  slave  owners  received  ,£128,296  for  their  negroes, 
or  £"12,  14s,  4d.  per  head.  This  was  a  comparatively  low  figure, 
t.  Geographical  Society  of  Baltimore,  The  Bahama  Islands,  148,  149; 
McKinnen.  Tour  Through  the  British  JFest  Tidies,  183;  Geographical 
Society  of  Baltimore,  The  Bahama  Islands,  426,  552. 

2.  Fairbanks,  History  of  Florida,  244. 

3.  Geographical  Society  of  Baltimore,    The  Bahama  Islands,  149,  429. 


considering  the  reimbursements  of  other  colonies;  but  this  fact 
may  possibly  be  regarded  as  proof  that  slave  labor  was  not  very 
remunerative  in  the  Bahamas.1 

The  presence  of  the  American  refugees  affected  more  or  less 
the  social  conditions  in  the  Bahamas,  for  the  newcomers  soon  out- 
numbered the  older  inhabitants,  and  they  introduced  their  own 
conceptions  of  plantation  life  and  of  the  relations  of  master  and 
slave.  Many  of  the  new  whites  were  persons  of  energy,  and  we 
have  McKinnen's  word  for  it  that  the  blacks  in  general  possessed 
"more  spirit  and  execution"  than  those  in  the  southern  parts  of 
the  West  Indies.  The  planters  assigned  the  various  tasks  to  their 
negroes,  "daily  and  individually"  according  to  their  strength; 
and  if  the  latter  were  so  diligent  as  to  have  finished  their 
labors  at  an  early  hour,  the  rest  of  the  day  was  allowed 
them  for  amusement  or  their  private  concerns.  Another  feature 
that  tended  to  soften  the  system  of  slavery  in  the  islands  was  the 
absence  of  the  overseer  from  most  of  the  estates.  The  master  usually 
acted  as  his  own  superintendent;  and  it  rarely  happened,  there- 
fore, according  to  McKinnen,  that  the  negroes  were  so  much 
subject  to  the  discipline  of  the  whip  as  was  the  case  where  the 
gangs  were  large,  and  the  direction  of  them  was  entrusted  to 
agents  or  overseers.  It  was,  nevertheless,  true  that  some  planters 
were  brutal,  that  female  slaves  as  well  as  males  were  some- 
times flogged,  and  that  masters  "had  the  right  practically  to 
punish  their  slaves  at  their  own  discretion,"  without  being  held 
accountable  for  their  acts  of  cruelty. - 

The  immigration  to  the  Bahamas  probably  trebled  the  num- 
ber of  blacks,  and  raised  the  relative  majority  of  blacks  over  whites 
by  more  than  twenty  per  cent.  It  is  not  surprising,  therefore, 
that  the  stringency  of  the  laws  regulating  slaves  should  have 
been  increased.  The  sentiments  and  fears  of  the  ruling  class, 
which  arose  out  of  the  changed  situation,  appearin  the  legislation 
enacted  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  colony  in  1 784.  This  leg- 
islation provided  for  the  punishment  of  assault  on  a  white  by  a 
slave  with  death;  it  provided  that  other  abuse  of  a  white  person 

1.  Northcroft,  Sketches  of  Summerland,   292. 

2.  Edwards,  West  Indies,  Vol.  IV,  Ap.,    358;    Northcroft,  Sketches  of 
Summerland,  285. 

29 


should  be  atoned  for  by  a  fine  of  £15,  or  by  corporal  punishment, 
not  limited  in  amount  or  character;  it  provided  that  "whites  could 
disarm  not  only  slaves  but  also  free  coloured  persons  whom  they 
found  at  large  with  arms  in  their  hands;"  it  imposed  a  tax  of  ^90 
on  any  one  manumitting  a  bondman,  and  gave  validity  to  the  evi- 
dence of  slaves  against  manumitted  persons  in  all  trials  for  capital 
or  criminal  offenses;  while  against  white  persons  only  Christian 
negroes,  mulattos,  mustees,  or  Indians  were  allowed  to  testify 
at  all,  and  they  only  in  suits  for  debt.1 

In  1796  it  was  enacted  that  slave  owners  should  endeavor 
to  instruct  their  slaves  in  the  Christian  religion,  and  have  those 
baptized  who  could  be  made  sensible  of  a  Deity  and  of  the  Chris- 
tian faith;  but  as  there  was  only  one  clergyman  in  the  entire 
colony  at  that  time  it  is  not  likely  that  many  slaves  were  baptized.2 

Inasmuch  as  planters  were  sometimes  annoyed  by  the  escape 
of  their  slaves,  it  was  customary  to  offer  private  rewards  for  the 
return  of  the  runaways.  We  are  told  that  hardhT  an  issue  of  the 
Bahama  Gazette  appeared  in  1794  and  1795  that  did  not  give  notice 
of  the  escape  of  a  fugitive.  At  length  an  epidemic  of  escapes 
into  the  interior  occurred  in  the  small  island  of  New  Providence, 
and  a  law  was  passed  ordering  the  registration  of  all  free  negroes, 
mulattoes,  mustees,  and  Indians,  and  providing  that  if  at  any 
time  five  or  more  runaways  were  reported,  free  negroes  might  be 
sent  in  pursuit  of  them.  Colored  freemen  were  promised  rewards 
for  the  arrest  and  delivery  of  runaways,  and  were  allowed  to  kill 
a  fugitive  slave,  if  necessary,  in  order  to  defend  themselves  from 
his  attack.3 

Slaves  were  excluded  from  service  in  the  local  militia.  So, 
also,  were  free  blacks  until  the  year  1804.  After  that  time, 
prejudice  served  as  a  sufficient  bar  against  the  exercise  of  this 
right  until  after  emancipation  was  declared.  Much  the  same 
restrictions  held  in  regard  to  jury  service  by  negroes  during  the 
same  period.4 

By  a  statute  of  1805,  the  trial  of  all  suits  relating  to  the  free- 
dom of  slaves  was  confined  to  the  highest  tribunal  in  the  colony, 

1.  Geographical  vSociety  of  Baltimore,  The  Bahama  Islands,  449, 
450,451,  456;  Northcroft,  Sketches  iii  Summerland ',  288. 

2.  Northcroft,  Sketches  in  Summerland,  288. 

3.  Geographical  vSociety  of  Baltimore,  The  Bahama  Islands,  453. 

4.  Ibid.,  448. 

30 


namely,  the  General  Court.  As  that  body  sat  only  in  the  island 
of  New  Providence,  it  was  necessary  to  provide  that  in  the  case  of 
the  Out-islands  a  magistrate  could  require  a  master,  on  sufficient 
evidence,  either  to  surrender  his  claim  of  ownership  to  the  alleged 
slave,  or  pay  the  expense  of  sending  the  latter  to  Nassau  for  trial 
before  the  court  specified.  If  the  claimant  secured  judgment, 
he  could  bring  another  suit  for  damages,  as  well  as  for  wages,  for 
the  time  he  had  been  held  in  bondage.1 

Meanwhile,  the  planters  of  the  Bahamas  were  already  suffer- 
ing from  crop  failures,  and  were  deeply  concerned  over  the 
uncertainty  of  the  tenure  of  the  lands  which  they  held.  After  1 807 
the  foreign  slave  trade  could  no  longer  be  carried  on  openly 
in  the  islands,  and  a  few  years  later  residents  were  claiming 
that  their  slaves  had  lost  a  quarter  of  the  value  which  they 
possessed  during  the  first  decade  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
Under  these  circumstances,  it  was  but  natural  that  the  slave 
owners,  especially  the  refugees  from  the  Southern  states,  should 
oppose  the  attempts  of  the  English  Parliament  to  get  the  colony 
to  adopt  laws  for  the  amelioration  of  the  condition  of  the  blacks. 
These  American  refugees  had  been  brought  up  in  an  atmosphere 
of  slavery;  they  had  been  accustomed  to  dealing  with  it  in  their 
own  way;  and  they  were  averse  to  any  interference  with  it,  espe- 
cially any  interference  which  they  believed  to  be  ruinous  to  their 
property  rights,  and  conducive,  as  they  alleged,  to  slave  insurrec- 
tions. The  Bahama  Assembly  took  its  stand  from  the  first 
against  the  successive  measures  recommended  by  the  British  gov- 
ernment and  supported  by  the  local  government.  Thus  a  struggle 
began  in  the  islands  in  18 15  that  continued  for  nearly  fifteen 
years.  This  struggle  started  with  a  controversy  over  the  need  of 
the  registration  of  the  slaves,  the  House  of  Assembly  maintaining 
that  registration  was  wholly  inexpedient  and  would  prove  disas- 
trous to  the  islands.2 

This  situation  was  greatly  aggravated  by  an  incident  in 
which. the  attorney-general  of  the  colony,  William  Wylly,  a 
Georgia  loyalist,  figured  so  prominently  that  it  has  been  des- 
ignated "the  Wylly  affair. "  This  incident  aroused  such  feeling 
between  the  local  legislature  on  the  one  hand  and  the  local  govern - 

1.  Geographical    Society    of    Baltimore,    The  Bahama    Islands,  451. 

2.  Ibid,  430,  433.  44o-445. 

3i 


ment  on  the  other  that  legislation  in  regard  to  the  registration 
of  the  slaves  was  precluded  for  a  term  of  four  years.  In 
1816,  Attorney- General  Wylly  brought  action  to  prevent  a 
master's  removal  of  his  three  negroes  from  New  Providence  to 
Georgia,  on  the  ground  that  the  slaves  had  been  imported  since 
the  abolition  of  the  slave  trade.  Two  of  the  slaves  were  restored 
to  their  owner,  but  the  third  was  not.  The  House  of  Assembly 
objected  to  the  conduct  of  the  Attorney-General,  and  also  to  his 
opinion  in  favor  of  the  use  of  licenses  and  bonds  for  removals 
under  the  imperial  statute  of  1S06.  Its  hostility  was  further 
aroused  by  the  rumor  that  Mr.  Wylly  was  in  correspondence 
with  an  anti-slavery  society  in  London,  called  the  African  Insti- 
tution, which  he  was  alleged  to  be  keeping  informed  as  to  the 
colony's  attitude  on  the  question  of  registration. 

Having  determined  to  investigate  the  Attorney-General's 
conduct,  the  House  undertook  to  summon  him  before  a  committee, 
only  to  receive  an  answer  which  it  considered  contemptuous. 
A  messenger,  who  was  sent  to  arrest  him,  was  resisted  by  armed 
slaves  011  Mr.  Wylly' s  premises.  Outraged  at  this,  the  House 
next  asked  Governor  Cameron  to  suspend  the  Attorney-General 
from  office,  and  again  attempted  his  arrest.  This  time  it  was  suc- 
cessful, but  wTithin  an  hour  after  his  imprisonment  he  was 
released  by  order  of  the  Chief  Justice.  The  House  now  declared 
the  action  of  the  Court  unconstitutional,  and  again  ordered  the 
arrest  of  the  released  prisoner;  whereupon  the  Governor  dis- 
solved the  House.  If,  a  few  days  later,  the  action  of  that  body 
was  unanimously  approved  by  a  public  meeting  at  Nassau,  the 
Governor  had  the  satisfaction  of  receiving  in  due  time  the  sup- 
port of  the  home  government.  Nevertheless,  the  struggle  was 
renewed  by  the  next  Assembly  and  its  two  successors. 

At  length,  in  1818,  the  House  passed  a"healing  act"  under 
the  pacifying  influence  of  a  new  executive,  Major-General  Lewis 
Grant;  but  also  voted  that  it  could  not,  consistently  with  its  dig- 
nity, and  never  would,  grant  salaries  to  William  Wylly  and  the 
Justice  of  the  General  Court  for  past  services  since  the  commence- 
ment of  the  dispute,  or  for  any  future  services.  It  also  reasserted 
its  claim  to  superiority    over  the  courts.     The  uncompromising 

32 


attitude  of  the  House  on  these  matters  led  to  its  dissolution  in 
December,  1820.  Thus,  the  House  of  Assembly  spent  four  years 
in  trying  to  override  the  other  departments  of  the  local  govern- 
ment on  account  of  the  Wylly  affair,  and  then  finally  adopted 
(1821)  the  system  of  registration  for  slaves.1 

But  the  greater  conflict  was  to  occur  over  the  demand  for  a 
programme  of  amelioration.  According  to  this  programme, 
which  originated  in  Parliament  and  was  urged  by  the  Ministry, 
the  flogging  of  female  slaves  was  to  cease;  instruction  was  to  be 
given  to  negroes  in  the  principles  of  Christian  morality  and 
religion;  the  right  to  testify  in  courts  of  law  was  to  be  accorded 
them  after  they  had  been  duly  qualified  to  exercise  such  a  right; 
the  sacredness  of  the  marriage  tie  was  to  be  taught  and  fully 
protected;  self-emancipation  was  to  be  encouraged,  together  with 
the  accumulation  of  property  by  negroes,  and  too  severe  punish- 
ments were  to  be  discouraged.  The  Bahama  Assembly  did  not  bring 
itself  to  accept  these  reforms  until  the  year  1824,  when  it  enacted 
a  new  slave  code  which  embodied  only  a  part  of  them.  In  1826, 
however,  it  supplemented  the  code  by  amendatory  legislation, 
which  included  almost  all  of  the  recommendations  of  the  British 
government.  This  legislation,  we  are  informed,  "contained  prac- 
tically all  that  the  Bahamas  ever  conceded  in  the  enactment  of 
regulations  for  the  amelioration  of  their  slaves,"  although  "a  few 
minor  points  were  added  in  1829.  "2  But,  even  yet,  the  provision 
against  the  flogging  of  female  slaves  had  found  no  place  in  the 
new  law. 

In  the  year  last  named,  Sir  James  Smyth  was  sent  out  as 
governor  of  the  Bahama  Islands.  His  first  duty  was  to  enforce 
the  slave  code,  and  thus  accomplish  the  end  at  which  the  home 
government  had  been  aiming  through  all  the  previous  fifteen 
years.  As  he  was  himself  an  abolititionist,  he  had  no  desire  to 
shirk  his  responsibility,  although  he  hoped  to  secure  the  cooper- 
ation of  the  House  of  Assembly  in  the  performance  of  his  duty. 
However,  he  soon  came  into  a  clash  with  that  body  in  his  efforts 
to  prevent  the  flogging  of  enslaved  women.  The  House  brought 
a  number  of  charges  against  the  Governor,  including  one  of  mal- 

1.  Geographical  Society  of  Baltimore,  The  Bahama  Islands,  433-440. 

2.  Ibid.,  442,445.  446-456- 

33 


administration,  and  decided  to  ask  the  King  to  remove  him. 
Under  such  circumstances,  the  only  thing  left  to  Sir  James  was 
to  prorogue  the  Assembly,  which  he  did  after  a  few  weeks'  delay. 
But  the  new  Assembly,  elected  in  1832,  was  in  no  better  mood, 
and  the  Governor  found  himself  compelled  to  resort  to  another 
dissolution.  In  the  spring  of  1833,  Sir  James  Smyth  was  recalled, 
and  was  succeeded  by  Blaney  T.  Balfour  as  lieutanant-gover- 
nor.  This  change  gave  no  hope  of  a  better  understanding  in 
regard  to  the  point  in  dispute  between  the  executive  and  legislative 
departments  of  the  colony,  inasmuch  as  Mr.  Balfour  held  the 
same  convictions  as  his  predecessor  on  the  slavery  question. 
Meanwhile,  English  sentiment  had  been  so  aroused  by  the  failure 
of  the  colonists  to  enact  the  reforms  demanded  by  enlightened 
humanitarianism  that  the  imperial  Parliament  was  forced  to  pass 
the  statute  abolishing  slavery  in  the  British  Empire.  Although 
this  action  was  taken  in  the  spring  of  1833,  the  old  laws  govern- 
ing the  relation  of  masters  and  slaves  were  allowed  to  remain  in- 
force  in  the  colonies  until  the  first  of  August,  1834.1  That  the 
loyalist  immigration  was  parti}'  responsible  for  this  result  is 
obvious:  it  not  only  strengthened  the  hold  of  slavery  on  the  Baha- 
mas and  the  British  West  Indies,  but  also  furnished  a  specious 
standard  of  private  rights  combined  with  public  interests,  under 
which  those  who  had  given  proof  of  their  steadfastness  could  do 
battle  in  behalf  of  a  cherished  but  doomed  institution. 

V.     The  Loyalists  in  Jamaica 

While  we  know  far  less  of  the  life  of  the  loyalists  in  Jamaica 
and  the  other  British  West  Indies  than  of  the  life  of  those  who 
settled  in  the  Bahamas,  the  general  conditions  amidst  which  they 
settled-  are  clearly  distinguishable.  The  size  of  Porto  Rico, 
together  with  its  advantages  of  harbor  and  soil,  and  some  doubts 
about  the  effects  of  Parliament's  compensating  the  loyalists  in 
money  for  their  losses  and  sufferings  led  a  Boston  gentleman  of 
great  prominence  in  his  day,  Sir  John  Temple,  to  draw  up  a  plan 
for  the  acquisition  of  this  island  by  Great  Britain,  with  a  view  to 
settling  the  friends  of  government  there.  It  is  not  known  that 
this  project  was  ever  submitted  to  the  British  authorities;  but, 
1.     Geographical  Society  of  Baltimore,    The  Bahama  Islands,  480-483. 


nevertheless,  it  is  not  without  a  certain  interest  for  the  student 
of  loyalist  affairs.  Temple's  project,  then,  contemplated  the 
reimbursement  of  the  impoverished  loyalists  partly  in  Porto  Rican 
lands,  instead  of  in  money  exclusively.  Moreover,  even  those 
who  had  lost  no  estates  were  to  receive  grants  of  land.  For  the 
benefit  of  merchants,  tradesmen,  and  others,  a  town  was  to  be 
laid  out  and  alloted  to  members  of  these  classes.  Such  a  parcel- 
ing out  of  the  island,  which  Temple  said  contained  3,290,000 
acres,  would  enable  it  to  accommodate  30,000  families.  If  negroes 
were  to  be  admitted,  which  the  author  of  the  project  thought 
contrary  to  good  policy,  they  should  be  taxed;  and  the  money 
secured  from  this  source  should  be  paid  out  in  bounties  on  certain 
exports,  such  as  cotton  and  indigo.  Sugar  plantations  ought  not 
to  be  encouraged,  for  England  needed  raw  materials  for  her 
manufactures  more  than  she  needed  sugar;  and  Porto  Rico  could 
well  supply  lumber  and  produce  to  the  sugar  islands,  as  well  as 
large  quantities  of  cotton  and  indigo  to  Great  Britain.  Follow- 
ing such  a  plan,  Porto  Rico  would  soon  surpass  Jamaica  in 
importance.  But,  the  land  should  be  kept  low  in  price,  and 
should  be  subject  to  forfeiture  if  not  settled  within  a  specified 
period  after  being  granted.1 

Meanwhile,  Jamaica  was  receiving  considerable  numbers  of 
loyalists  and  negroes  from  the  mainland,  the  great  convoy  from 
Charleston  arriving  on  January  13,  1783.  Six  weeks  later,  the 
Assembly  of  the  island  passed  an  act  for  the  benefit  of  all  white 
refugees  who  had  already  come  in,  or  should  follow  later,  with  the 
intent  of  becoming  inhabitants.  This  act  was  made  applicable 
to  former  residents  of  North  and  South  Carolina  and  Georgia, 
the  Bay  of  Honduras,  the  Mosquito  Shore,  and  other  parts  of 
North  America,  who  were  paying  the  price  of  exile  by  being 
forced  to  relinquish  their  dwellings,  lands,  slaves,  or  other  prop- 
erty. It  exempted  these  persons  for  seven  years  after  their  arrival 
from  the  payment  of  imposts  on  any  negroes  that  accompanied 
them,  as  well  as  from  all  manner  of  public  and  parochial  taxes, 
excepting  the  quit  rents  on  such  lands  as  they  might  purchase  or 
patent:!  It  also  released  them  from  all  services,  duties,  and  offices, 
except  the  obligations  to  serve  in  the  militia;  and  decreed  that  the 
r.  Winthrop  Papers,  XXIV.  (In  the  Library  of  the  Massachusetts  His- 
torical Society,   Boston.) 

35 


charges  for  patenting  their  lands  should  be  borne  at  the  public 
expense.  To  avoid  dispute  in  regard  to  those  entitled  to  the 
benefits  of  the  act,  it  was  provided  that  all  persons  claiming  such 
benefits  should  make  affidavit,  before  the  magistrate  of  the  parish 
or  precinct  where  they  proposed  to  settle,  of  their  last  place  of  resi- 
dence, the  number  of  slaves  they  had  brought  with  them,  and  of 
their  intention  in  coming  to  Jamaica,  this  declaration  to  be  made 
within  three  months  of  the  passing  of  the  act  for  those  who  had 
already  arrived,  or  within  the  same  period  after  their  arrival  for 
those  who  should  come  later.  The  local  magistrates  were  to 
issue  certificates  to  the  persons  satisfying  the  above  requirements, 
and  these  certificates  were  to  be  duly  recorded  in  the  office  of  the 
secretary  of  the  island.  Loyalists  who  patented  lands  were 
obliged  to  settle  and  plant  at  least  a  part  of  these,  and  proceed 
with  their  improvements  without  intermission  within  two  years 
from  the  date  of  their  patents,  and  in  default  of  so  doing  were  to 
lose  their  lands.  The  reasons  for  the  enactment  of  the  above 
measure,  which  were  embodied  in  its  preamble,  were  that  the 
Assembly  of  Jamaica  felt  bound  by  every  priuciple  of  humanity 
to  relieve  and  assist  the  suffering  refugees,  and  that  it  was  only 
good  policy  to  give  them  all  due  encouragement,  inasmuch  as 
nothing  could  tend  more  to  the  security,  wealth,  and  prosperity 
of  the  island  than  the  increase  of  the  inhabitants. 1 

These  reasons,  however,  did  not  prevent  a  protest  against 
the  new  law  on  the  part  of  some  of  the  older  inhabitants.  While 
applauding  the  law  and  the  motives  from  which  it  sprung,  the 
justices  and  vestry  of  Kingston  presented  a  petition  to  the 
Assembly,  November  30,  17S4,  calling  attention  to  the  effects  of 
the  measure  upon  their  parish,  which,  they  claimed,  was  more 
burdened  by  its  provisions  than  all  the  other  parishes  combined. 
The  petition  explained  that  there  were  nearly  seventy  house- 
keepers in  the  town  of  Kingston  who  were  refugees,  and  hence 
were_exempt  from  parochial  taxes,  although  many  of  these  were 
apparently  wealth}'  and  were  engaged  in  commerce  to  a  consider- 
able extent.  Others  were  tradesmen  or  mechanics  in  the  exer- 
cise of  lucrative  employments.  Some  of  these  persons  were 
occupying  fine  houses  in  the  best  situations  in  the  town.  Thus, 
the  petitioners  were  deprived  of  the  taxes  that  might  have  accrued 

1.     Acts  of  Assembly  of  Jamaica,  /7/S-/7S3,  337,  338. 

36 


from  the  "opulent  refugees,"  and  were  also  burdened  with  a 
numerous  poor  of  the  same  description,  who  came  from  the  Mos- 
quito Shore,  the  Bay  of  Honduras,  and  all  parts  of  North  America. 
The  petition  further  recited  that  ^1041,  us,  4d.,  had  been  raised 
by  subscription  in  Kingston  for  the  relief  of  these  exiles,  but  that 
the  sum  was  so  inadequate  that  numbers  of  hem  still  remained 
in  the  utmost  distress.  The  parish-house  was  crowded  with  ref- 
ugees, and  outside  support  was  being  furnished  to  many  others 
by  weekly  distributions  of  money.  All  this  occasioned  "a  very 
great  and  grievous  addition  to  the  parochial  taxes,"  in  the  words 
of  the  petition,  from  which  is  borrowed  the  annexed  schedule  of 
sums  expended  on  the  exiles  in  the  years  1783  and  1784: 

1733  £.     s.     d. 

32  addit.  pers.   admitted  into  the  parish-house,  at 

the  average  of  24  1.  each 768       o     o 

Paid  for  the  passage  of  sundry  refugees  to   other 
countries  where  they  were  desirous  to  go,  & 
occas.  necessaries;  &  for  the  temp,  support 

of  many  peo.  in  distress 127        4     2 

1784 
20    addit.  pers.  admitted  into  the  parish-house,  to 
the  pres.  time;  but  in  all  prob.  the  num.  will 

soon  equal  that  of  last  year 480       o     o 

Paid  for  passages  and  occas.  necessaries 301       4     o 

Out-pensions  to  refugees,  about   5  1.  per  week,  tak- 
ing   an    average    of    two    yr.    for    twenty-one 

months 455       o     o 

2,131  8  2 
This  petition  was  referred  to  the  committee  of  the  whole 
House,  which  was  to  inquire  further  into  the  state  of  the  island 
but  what  action,  if  any,  was  taken  in  regard  to  it  does  not 
appear.1  It  is  worth  remarking,  however,  that  the  advent  of 
the  loyalists  in  Kingston  had  cost  that  parish  no  less  than  £  3,172, 
19s.  6d.  in  public  and  private  contributions  up  to  the  end  of 
November,  1784. 

Other  parishes  in  which  loyalists  are  known  to  have  settled 

were    Port    Royal,    St.     Thomas-in-the-East,    St.     Andrew,  St. 

George,    St.   Catherine,   St.   Elizabeth,  St.  Thomas-in-the-Valc, 

1.    Journals  of  the  Assembly  of  Jamaica,    VIII,  (1/84-1/91)  pp.  32,  33. 

37 


and  Trelawney.  But,  as  was  asserted  by  the  justices  and  vestry 
of  Kingston,  the  proportion  of  newcomers  in  these  parishes  was 
small  in  comparison  with  those  in  Kingston,  probably  between 
eight  and  nine  per  cent,  of  the  latter  number.  The  writer  has  in 
his  possesion  copies  of  one  hundred  and  seventy- four  of  the  cer- 
tificates that  were  issued  to  refugees,  in  accordance  with  the  act 
of  1783.  These  show  that  one  hundred  and  forty-five  of  the 
recipients  chose  Kingston  as  their  place  of  abode.  Eighteen 
others,  whose  locations  are  given,  distributed  themselves  over 
the  other  parishes.  Sixty-one  of  the  hundred  and  forty-five 
were  accompanied  by  slaves,  to  the  number  of  eight  hundred  and 
eighty-one.  Of  the  eighteen  others,  only  nine  had  slaves,  who 
numbered  all  told  five  hundred  and  sixty-eight.  While  fully  a 
fourth  of  these  certificated  loyalists  had  but  few  negroes,  the  rest 
had  anywhere  from  five  up  to  two  hundred  and  over.  One  ref- 
ugee was  in  charge  of  two  hundred  and  two  blacks,  including 
eighty-nine  of  his  own,  who  had  been  employed  for  some  time 
on  the  public  works,  but  were  afterwards  engaged  in  "jobbing" 
in  different  parts  of  the  County  of  Surrey.  Another  refugee 
had  brought  over  four  hundred  and  twelve  blacks,  of  whom 
more  than  half  were  the  property  of  Sir  James  Wright,  recently 
governor  of  Georgia,  while  another  was  in  charge  of  one  hundred 
and  eighty-one,  nearly  two  thirds  of  these  belonging  to  the  Hon. 
William  Bull,  late  lieutenant-governor  of  South  Carolina.  Since 
their  arrival,  the  last  named  group  of  one  hundred  and  eighty-one 
slaves  had  been  employed  on  the  public  works  and  in  "jobbing" 
in  several  parishes. 

A  few  of  the  exiles  came  from  Connecticut,  Massachusetts  Bay, 
New  York,  and  Pennsylvania,  a  few  also  from  Maryland,  and  Vir- 
gina,  but  by  far  the  greater  number  came  from  the  other  Southern 
states.  Out  of  the  hundred  and  seventy-four  certificated  loyalists, 
referred  to  above,  sixty-six  were  from  South  Carolina,  the  most  of 
these  having  come  at  the  time  of  the  evacuation  of  Charleston. 
Fifty-four  gave  the  Bay  of  Honduras  and  the  Mosquito  Shore 
as  their  former  places  of  residence.  Among  the  new  settlers 
there  was  a  sprinkling  of  "gentlemen,"  surgeons,  tradesmen, 
Quakers  (from  Philadelphia),  widows,  and  men  who  had 
served  in  loyalist  corps.     The  Quakers  had  been  driven    south- 

38 


ward  by  being  threatened  with  trials  for  treason.  William  Roach , 
a  refugee  from  New  York,  in  making  affidavit  before  the  magis- 
trate of  his  parish,  told  of  having  raised  a  company  in  the  corps  of 
Loyal  American  Rangers,  commanded  by  Colonel  William  Odell. 
That  there  were  many  planters  among  these  people  goes  without 
saying.  As  early  as  January,  1784,  accounts  of  the  success  of 
some  of  these  loyalists  in  raising  large  crops  of  indigo  were  circu- 
lating in  St.  Augustine.1  One  surviving  record  shows  that  lands 
were  granted  to  no  less  than  one  hundred  and  eighty-three  refugees 
in  the  parish  of  St.  Elizabeth.  We  are  informed  that  the  region 
in  which  these  grants  were  made  was  little  better  than  a  morass, 
and  that  a  claim  for  payment  by  the  persons  who  surveyed  and 
apportioned  the  tract  led  to  an  inquiry  on  the  part  of  the  House  of 
Assembly,  "when  it  was  stated  in  evidence  that  none  but  amphib- 
ious creatures,  such  as  fishes,  frogs,  and  'Dutchmen'  could  live 
there."  It  chanced  that  one  of  the  loyalists  who  tried  the  exper- 
iment bore  the  appropriate  name  of  Frogg,  but  reported  in  sor- 
row that  he  had  buried  most  of  his  family  in  consequence,  and 
that  his  case  was  only  one  of  many.2 

Among  the  refugees  families  that  settled  in  Jamaica  was  that 
of  Dr.  William  Martin  Johnston,  the  son  of  Dr.  Lewis  John- 
ton,  for  some  years  treasurer  and  president  of  the  King's  Coun- 
cil of  Georgia.  While  in  the  North,  William  became  a  captain  in 
the  New  York  Volunteers,  or  Third  Loyal  American  Regiment. 
In  1779,  Captain  Johnston  married  Elizabeth  Liechtenstein  of 
Savannah,  in  whose  Recollections ■,  written  in  1836,  is  preserved  a 
record  of  experiences  that  may  fairly  be  regarded  as  typical  for  a 
large  class  of  island  settlers.  On  the  capture  of  Savannah  by  the 
revolutionists  in  July,  1782,  the  elder  Dr.  Johnston  and  his  family 
were  compelled  to  withdraw  to  East  Florida,  and  until  that  prov- 
ince was  ceded  to  Spain,  he  lived  in  St.  Augustine.  Captain  and 
Mrs.  Johnston,  however,  went  fron  Savannah  to  Charleston  with 
the  military.  When,  in  December,  Charleston  was  evacuated, 
Mrs.  Johnston  and  her  children  took  passage  to  St.  Augustine  to 
join  her  father-in-law's  family,  while  her  husband  accompanied 
his  regiment  to  New  York  City.  Mrs.  Johnston  relates  that  she 
was  conveyed  to  her  destination  by  a  small  schooner,  and  arrived 

1.  Eaton,  Recollections  of  a  Georgia  Loyalist,  218. 

2.  Gardner,  History  of  Jamaica,   211,212. 

39 


there  safely  '  'with  many  more  Loyalists, '  although  she  saw  "many 
vessels  lying  stranded  along  the  shore  that  had  been  wrecked  on 
the  sand  bar."  It  may  have  been  that  she  was  writing  of  this 
dismal  sight,  when  she  remarked  in  a  letter  of  January  3,  1783, 
to  her  husband:  "Out  of  the  last  fleet  from  Charleston  there  have 
been  sixteen  sail  of  small  vessels  lost  on  and  about  the  Bar. 
There  are  six  or  eight  high  on  the  beach."  At  any  rate,  she 
reported  that  no  lives  had  been  lost  at  the  time  of  her  own  land- 
ing, although  "much  of  the  poor  Loyalists'  property"  was 
destroyed. 

Mrs.  Johnston  found  St.  Augustine  occupied  by  many  Greeks 
from  Smyrna  and  Minorca,  who  had  been  brought  there  by  a  Dr. 
Turnbull  to  cultivate  his  lands  on  the  Metanges,  some  miles  from 
the  city.  Inasmuch  as  these  people  had  failed  to  get  along  well 
with  their  employer,  they  had  left  his  estates  and  come  into  town. 
The  Johnstons  remained  in  St.  Augustine  for  sixteen  months, 
during  which  period  fish  proved  to  be  their  "chief  dependence 
and  ration."  With  the  announcement  that  East  Florida  had  been 
ceded  to  the  Spaniards,  and  that  St.  Augustine  was  soon  to  be 
evacuated,  Dr.  Lewis  Johnston  was  granted  a  transport  for  his 
sole  use  "to  go  wherever  he  wished  in  the  British  Dominion. ' '  Being 
a  native  of  Scotland,  he  chose  to  return  to  that  country,  and  late 
in  May,  1784,  embarked  at  St.  Mary's  River  for  Greenock  with 
his  own  and  his  daughter-in-law's  families.  Captain  Johnston 
had  sailed  in  advance,  with  the  intention  of  pursuing  medical 
studies  in  Edinburgh  and  London.  About  the  same  time  Brig- 
adier-General Alured  Clark,  formerly  commandant  of  Savannah, 
was  appointed  governor  of  Jamaica.  This  circumstance  with 
others,  led  the  Captain  to  decide  on  locating  in  Kingston,  which 
he  accordingly  did  in  the  autumn  of  1785.  However,  nis  family 
continued  in  Scotland  until  some  time  in  October,  1786,  and  did 
not  arrive  in  Jamaica  until  the  middle  of  the  following  December. 
The  elder  Dr.  Johnston  spent  the  remainder  of  his  life  in  Edin- 
burgh, and  died  there,  October  9,  1796. 

His  son  was  kindly  received  by  Governor  Clark,  and  nomi- 
nally attached  to  a  regiment  in  order  to  enable  him  to  obtain 
island  pay  at  the  rate  of  20s.  per  week  for  himself,  10s.  for  his 
wife,  and  5s.  each  for  his  children.       Not  long  after  this  he   ren- 

40 


dered  important  service  in  helping  to  combat  yellow  fever,  which 
was  brought  to  Jamaica  from  Philadephia,  and  according  to  Mrs. 
Johnston's  Recollections,  "made  great  havoc  among  all  new- 
comers and  sailors,"  although  it  did  not  attack  the  natives,  or 
others  who  had  resided  there  long  enough  to  become  acclimated. 
Later,  Dr.  Johnston  accepted  attendance  on  the  estates  of  James 
Wildman,  one  of  the  members  of  the  Jamaica  Council,  near 
Kingston,  in  St.  Andrew's  parish,  and  settled  in  Liguana  near 
Halfwaytree.  Here  he  died,  December  9,  1807.  In  the  sum- 
mer of  1 810,  Mrs.  Johnston,  having  arranged  the  affairs  of  her 
husband's  estate  in  Jamaica,  quitted  the  island  for  Nova  Scotia 
to  reside  with  several  of  her  children  and  near  her  aged  father, 
who  had  removed  thither.  l 

The  first  large  companies  of  loyalists  who  resorted  to  Jamaica  \  / 
were  furnished  provisions  by  the  British  government,  but  the 
supply  soon  proved  inadequate.  A  memorial,  dated  April  8. 
1783,  was  forwarded  to  Sir  Guy  Carleton  at  New  York,  signed 
by  Charles  Ogelvie,  A.  Wright,  George  Kincaid,  William  Tel- 
fair, John  McGillivray,  James  Skene,  J.  O.  Murray,  Thomas 
Inglis,,  Sir  James  Wright,  William  Knox,  and  several  others, 
requesting  a  further  allowance  until  the)"  could  find  "lands  or 
employment,  especially  for  their  negroes."2  Some  of  these  loyal- 
ists secured  the  desired  employment  for  their  slaves,  as  we  have 
already  seen,  by  hiring  them  out  to  labor  on  the  public  works, 
or  sending  them  out  "jobbing,"  that  is,  to  perform  the  heavy 
work  on  sugar  and  other  plantations,  such  as  digging  the  cane 
holes  and  planting/5  To  the  extent  of  being  able  to  call  on  the 
British  authorities  in  the  United  States  for  provisions,  the  loyal- 
ists were  fortunate;  but  unless  their  appeal  was  promptly  answered 
the\^  had  to  endure  not  only  the  hardships  peculiar  to  their  own 
lot,  but  also  the  visitations  of  famine  and  hurricane  that  prevailed 
during  the  early  years  of  their  residence  in  the  islands.  In  part, 
the  prospect  of  starvation  that  confronted  new  and  old  settlers 
alike  at  this  time  was  due  to  the  destructive  effects  of  the  hurri- 
canes of  1780  and  1 781;  in  part,  however,  it  was  also  due  to  the 
War  of  Independence,  to  which  they  owed  their  banishment  from 

1.  Katon,   Recollections  of  a  Georgia  Loyalist,  11,  12,  24,  29,  64,  73,  74, -— 

passim. 

2.  Repoit  on  Am.  Mss.  in  the  Roy.  Inst,  of  G.  Brit.,  I\\  19. 

3.  Gardner,  History  of  Jamaica,  158. 

41 


the  states.  Despite  the  proclamation  of  peace,  the  home  govern- 
ment adopted  the  policy  of  restricting  trade  with  the  neighboring 
continent.  An  order  in  Council  was  promulgated,  July  2,  1783, 
limiting  the  importation  of  American  products  (livestock,  grain, 
lumber,  etc.)  into  the  West  Indies,  to  British  vessels,  and  pro- 
hibiting entirely  salt  beef,  pork,  and  fish. 

Whether  this  policy  of  commercial  hostility  towards  the 
revolted  states  met  with  the  approval  of  the  loyalist  element  in  the 
West,  Indies  or  not,  it  led  most  of  the  islands  to  send  remonstrances 
and  petitions  to  the  British  Parliament  in  1784,  on  the  score 
that  they  were  dependent  on  America  for  supplies.  The  Legisla- 
ture of  Jamaica  advocated  free  trade  with  the  United  States  as 
the  only  means  of  affording  a  chance  of  carrying  on  the  island 
estates,  of  supplying  their  families  with  bread,  and  of  averting 
"impending  ruin."  These  protests  were  given  added  emphasis 
by  a  destructive  storm,  which  occurred,  J11I37  30,  1784.  This 
storm  either  sunk,  drove  ashore,  or  dismasted  every  vessel  in 
Kingston  harbor.  It  blew  down  public  buildings  in  or  near 
Kingston,  and  caused  the  loss  of  many  lives.  Indeed,  the  situa- 
tion had  become  so  grave  by  the  end  of  the  first  week  in  August 
that  Governor  Clark  exercised  his  discretionary  power  to  the 
extent  of  permitting  the  importation  of  provisions  in  foreign  bot- 
toms during  the  following  six  months.  The  immediate  effect  of 
all  this  was  to  induce  the  planters  to  increase  their  acreage  in 
corn  and  other  farm  produce.  Scarcely  had  they  harvested  their 
crops  when  another  hurricane  swept  over  Jamaica,  August  27, 
1785;  and  the  Governor  found  it  necessary  to  prohibit  the  expor- 
tation of  provisions  to  other  suffering  colonies  as  an  alternative 
to  opening  the  ports  once  more  to  American  ships.  Even  this 
measure  did  not  prevent  scarcity  of  food  during  the  remainder  of 
the  year,  but  "the  climax  of  misery  seemed  to  be  reached"  when 
still  another  storm  "burst  upon  the  land,"  October  20,  1786.  1 
Under  the  drastic  stimulus  of  these  years  of  disaster,  supplemented 
by  the  severities  of  the  navigation  laws,  the  islanders  came  to 
depend  more  on  themselves,  not  only  in  raising  their  own  provi- 
sion, but  also  in  hewing  their  own  staves.'2  The  navigation  laws 
ceased  to  be  enforced  after  1792,  and  were  rescinded  by  Parlia- 
ment a  few7  years  later. 

1.  Gardner,  History  cf  Jamaica,  212,  213. 

2.  Edwards,  History  of  the  JTest  Indies,  II J  284. 

42 


It  should  be  noted,  however,  that  the  increased  production 
of  food  stuffs  was  not  accomplished  at  the  expense  of  the  sugar  and 
coffee  crops,  which  in  1787  exceeded  those  of  any  former  year.  We 
have  no  means  of  learning  how  far  the  loyalists  and  their  slaves 
contributed  to  these  various  results.  Probably,  they  contributed 
their  share,  especially  in  the  cultivation  of  coffee,  inasmuch  as 
this  industry  was  rapidly  growing  in  favor  with  the  island  planters 
at  the  time  the  exiles  began  to  arrive.  While  some  refugees 
were  early  reported  to  have  raised  large  quantities  of  indigo,  they 
must  have  found,  as  did  the  other  cultivators,  that  this  crop  was 
unprofitable  in  the  absence  of  protection;  although  it  was  well 
suited  to  men  of  moderate  means  and  owning  but  few  negroes. 
The  growing  of  cotton,  to  which  many  of  the  Americans  had  been 
accustomed,  proved  to  be  only  partially  successful  in  the  West 
Indies,    on    account    of   the  variable   climate   of    these   islands.1 

It  has  been  truly  said  that  in  no  colony  did  the  system  of 
slavery  run  more  thoroughly  its  baneful  course  than  in  Jamaica, 
and  in  none  did  it  die  harder.  As  most  of  the  loyalists  who 
established  themselves  here  were,  or  had  been,  slaveowners,  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  they  held  the  same  views  on  the  abolition 
of  the  slave-trade,  the  compulsory  improvement  of  the  slave  code, 
and  emancipation  as  did  their  fellow-colonials  in  the  Bahamas. 
Moreover,  they  were  now  (in  the  year  1800)  fully  identified  with 
a  population  of  30,000  whites,  who  were  the  proprietors  of  300,000 
negroes.  During  the  previous  decade,  the  white  men  of  Jamaica 
had  witnessed  "the  horrors  which  brought  in  the  age  of  freedom" 
in  the  neighboring  island  of  Haiti  or  St.  Domingo;  aud  they 
were  familiar  on  their  own  soil  with  Maroon  wars  and  slave 
rebellions.  Jealous  of  their  rights  of  self-government,  they  deeply 
resented  England's  interference  with  their  cherished  institution, 
which  they  regarded  as  the  very  foundation  of  their  prosperity. 
The  Assembly  of  the  island  struggled  long  and  bitterly  against 
the  demands  of  the  imperial  government;  but  was  compelled  at 
last  to  submit  to  the  inevitable  and  accept  the  sum  of  ,£6,000,000, 
or  more,  that  was  set  apart  as  the  purchase  price  of  the  slaves 
in  Jamaica.2 

1.  Gardner,  History  of 'Jamaica,  159,  241,  242. 

2.  Lucas,  Historical    Geography   of  the   British    Colonics,     /A    108; 
Gardener,  History  of  Jamaica,  292. 

43 


VI.    The  Losses   and   Compensations  of 
the  Loyalists  in  the  Islands 

The  losses  of  real  and  personal  property  sustained  by  many 
of  the  loyalists  who  fled  to  the  West  Indies  and  Bahamas  were 
liberally  compensated  b}^  the  British  government,  as  were  the 
losses  of  those  adherents  of  the  Crown  who  settled  in  other  parts 
of  the  British  Empire.  That  the  newcomers  in  these  islands  had 
relinquished  a  great  amount  of  property  is  shown  by  the  certifi- 
cates issued  to  those  who  landed  in  Jamacia  and  avowed  their 
intention  of  remaining  as  residents.  As  previously  remarked, 
the  writer  has  copies  of  one  hundred  and  seventy-four  of  these 
certificates;  and  in  one  hundred  and  fifty-eight  of  them  he  finds 
evidence  of  the  losses  sustained  by  their  possessors,  definite 
amounts  being  given  in  one  hundred  and  eleven  certificates, 
while  only  general  statements  regarding  the  losses  appear  in  the 
other  forty-seven.  The  amounts  reported  range  all  the  way  from 
^15  up  to  ,£12,000,  not  a  few  running  from  ,£1,000  to  ,£5,000. 
James  Cotton  of  North  Carolina  reported  the  largest  loss  men- 
tioned, namely,  ,£12,000;  while  James  Cary  tells  of  having  left 
Charlestown  "under  the  necessity  of  abandoning  all  his  property 
that  he  could  not  carry  off  with  him,  which  property,  so  left, 
was  confiscated  by  an  Act  of  the  Rebel  Legislature  and  was  of 
the  value  of  ,£6,000  and  upwards."  Taking  into  account  only 
the  definite  estimates  contained  in  these  certificates,  the  total 
amount  of  the  losses  would  be  £1 15,051,  although  doubtless  some 
of  the  estimates  were  exaggerated. 

A  large  class  of  claimants  among  the  island  settlers  had 
suffered  the  deprivation  of  their  property  in  consequence  of  the 
cession  of  East  Florida  to  Spain.  Four  months  before  the  defini- 
tive treaty  was  signed  confirming  this  cession,  the  East  Florida 
Gazette  published  a  communication  from  Governor  Tonyn  in  which 
the  intended  surrender  of  the  province  was  announced.  The 
communication  also  gave  assurance  that  the  government  of  Great 
Britain  would  pay  every  attention  to  the  welfare  of  the  refugees 
in  the  province,  and  that  the  Governor  would  exert  himself  in 

44 


"cooperating  with  them  to  obtain  a  compensation  for  their  great 
losses  and  suffering."1 

The  wretched  condition  of  these  unhappy  people,  for  whom 
East  Florida  would  soon  cease  to  be  an  asylum,  caused  a  stir  in 
London,  where  the  members  of  the  Cabinet  thought  the  matter 
sufficiently  grave  to  warrant  a  special  meeting,  July  24,  1783. 
The  purpose  of  this  meeting  was  to  discover  some  expedient  for 
giving  relief  to  the  large  number  of  loyalists  then  assembled  at 
St.  Augustine.  The  London  papers  reported  that  5,000  of  these 
people  had  transmitted  a  memorial  of  their  distresses  to  the  govern- 
ment; but  that  the  mode  of  alleviation  to  be  adopted  had  not  yet 
been  made  known.2 

Despite  the  commendable  promptness  of  the  Cabinet  in  consid- 
ering this  matter,  Parliament  appears  to  have  taken  no  action  for 
the  financial  relief  of  these  loyalists  until  1786,  when  it  passed  an 
act  designating  two  commissioners  to  investigate  the  losses  of  such 
of  the  East  Florida  sufferers  as  might  submit  their  claims  for 
liquidation.  For  the  benefit  of  those  '  'proprietors' r  of  the  province 
who  had  already  removed  to  the  Bahama  Islands,  or  other  British 
colonies  in  America,  the  act  provided  that  the  Governor,  Lieuten- 
ant-Governor, or  Commander-in-Chief,  and  Council  of  such  islands 
or  colonies  might  act  in  place  of  the  commissioners  for  P^ast 
Florida,  and  that  these  officials  should  report  their  findings  to  the 
regular  commissioners  to  be  laid  in  turn  before  the  Lords  of  the 
Treasury  and  the  Secretaries  of  State.  It  was  further  provided 
that  no  claim  should  be  received  in  Great  Britain  after  January 
t,  1787,  or  in  the  Bahama  Islands  or  other  colonies  after  March 
1 ,  of  the  same  year.  This  act  was  to  continue  in  force  for  two 
years  after  the  time  of  its  passage.3  Earl)-  in  June  of  the  next 
year,  however,  the  same  measure  was  re-enacted  for  an  additional 
twelvemonth.4 

In  the  meantime,  the  House  of  Commons  adopted  a  reso- 
lution, Ma}^,  8,  1787,  recommending  the  granting  of  a  sum  not  to 
exceed  ,£13,600  to  be  applied  in  payment  "for  present  relief  and 
on    account"    to    persons   who    gave    satisfactory   proof  of  their 

1.  The  London  Chronicle,  July  22-24,  1783. 

2.  The  Morning  Chronicle  and  London  Advertiser,  July  30,  1783. 

3.  Public  General  Acts,  26  Geo.  Ill,  cap.  lxxv. 

4.  Journals  of  the  House  of  Commons,  XLLLL,  519. 

45 


losses  to  the  commissioners  of  investigation  for  East  Florida,  this 
sum  to  be  paid  in  proportion  not  exceeding  4.0  per  centum.  1 
That  this  amount  was  wholly  inadequate  was  demonstrated  by 
the  first  report  of  the  East  Florida  Claim  Office,  which  was  sub- 
mitted to  the  House  at  the  end  of  May,  1788.  That  report 
showed  that  the  number  of  claims  received  thus  far  was  two  hun- 
dred and  eighty-eight,  the  gross  amount  of  these  claims  being 
,£602,765,  is.  7d.  of  these  claims  one  hundred  and  seventy 
nine  were  estimated  as  amounting  in  gross  to  ,£488,682,  is.  7d. 
The  losses  actually  allowed  by  the  commissioners  cut  this  last 
sum  down  to  ,£127,552,  14s.  3d.2  As  Parliament  had  provided  for 
but  £13,600  of  this  amount  at  its  last  session,  the  House  of  Com- 
mons recommended,  June  9,  1788,  an  additional  appropriation  of 
£"113,952,  14s.  3d.4  Later  claims  made  necessary  the  voting  of 
further  sums,  most  of  which  were  included  in  larger  appropria- 
tions for  groups  of  claimants  not  confined  to  those  from  East 
Florida.  Such  appropriations  were  made  in  1789,  1792,  1793.  1794, 
x795>  1796  (two),  and  1798.  Besides  these  grants  "for  American 
and  East  Florida  sufferers"  as  they  were  designated,  there  was  a 
special  grant  of  ,£24,005,  12s.  for  East  Florida  claimants  alone, 
enacted  in  June  1790,5  and  another  of  ,£12,262,  19s.  9d.  for 
those  from  the  Mosquito  Shore,  voted  in  March,  1792.  6 

One  of  those  who  received  compensation  was  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Thomas  Brown,  who  had  gone  to  the  Bahamas,  and  was 
awarded  the  munificent  sum  of  $150,000  for  his  confiscated  estates 
in  Georgia  and  South  Carolina.7  Another  was  General  Robert 
Cunningham  of  South  Carolina,  who  was  at  the  time  a  resident 
of  Nassau,  New  Providence.8  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the 
commissioners  of  loyalists'  claims  sitting  at  Halifax  reported  at 
the  end  of  September,  1786,  that  they  had  examined  the  cases  of 
some  few  claimants  of  the  Bahama  Islands.9  That  the  claims 
made  did  not  always  look  to  compensation  in  money  is  illustrated 
by  the  memorial  of  John  Ferdinand  Dalziel  Smyth,10  a  Northern 

1.  Journals  of  the  House  of  Commons  XL  II,  739. 

2.  Ibid.,  XL  III,  519. 

3.  Ibid.,  XLIII,  540. 

4.  Annual    Register  for  the  years  named. 

5.  Journal  of  the  House  of  Commons,  XL  V,  462,  543. 

6.  Annual  Register  for  the  year  named. 

^7.     Stark,  History '  a?id  Guide  of  the  Bahamas,  87. 

8.  Sahine,  American  Loyalists,  1847,  236. 

9.  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Archives,  Out.,  Ft.  II,  1363. 
10.     In  the  Library  of  Congress. 

46 


refugee,  then  in  England,  (January  i,  1784),  who  in  view  of  the 
important  services  he  insisted  he  had  rendered  early  and  late,  the 
great  risks  he  had  run,  the  captivity  he  had  endured,  the  regi- 
ment of  one  hundred  and  eighty-five  men  he  had  raised  for  the 
Queen's  Rangers,  and  the  immense  estate  he  had  lost,  applied  to 
the  King  in  Council  for  a  grant  of  one  of  the  Bahamas,  named 
Yametta  or  Long  Island,  which  contained  about  20,000  acres 
and  was  still  unoccupied  or  unpossessed,  according  to  his  repre- 
sentations. 

The  appointment  of  commissioners  to  investigate  the  East 
Florida  claims  aroused  to  action  those  loyalists  who  had  lived  for 
a  longer  or  shorter  period  in  West  Florida.  Some  of  "the 
Planters,  Merchants,  Public  Officers,  and  other  late  Proprietors" 
of  that  province,  hastening  to  London,  presented  a  petition  to 
the  House  of  Commons,  March  16,  1787,  in  which  the)7  set  forth 
their  reasons  for  asking  consideration,  as  follows:  that  many 
loyal  inhabitants  of  that  region  had  joined  the  King's  troops,  and 
others  had  formed  themselves  into  provincial  corps  and  had  been . 
employed  in  dangerous  service;  that  some  of  the  petitioners,  who 
had  sought  safety  in  West  Florida,  were  now  excluded  from  that 
temporary  support  and  compensation  for  losses  that  had  been 
granted  to  many  refugees  who  had  dwelt  in  peace  and  security  in 
Great  Britain  during  the  whole  War;  that  they  had  suffered  seri- 
ous losses,  and  West  Florida  had  been  surrendered  under  stipu- 
lations that  had  proved  ineffectual,  insofar  as  the  loyal  inhabit- 
ants were  concerned;  that  many  of  these  inhabitants  had  been 
reduced  from  affluence  to  indigence,  while  some  were  in  want  of 
immediate  support;  that  no  discrimination  ought  to  be  made 
between  East  and  West  Florida,  as  both  had  been  equally  loyal  and 
and  had  been  ceded  to  the  enemy  for  the  sake  of  peace;  hence  the 
petitioners  had  come  to  England  and  were  asking  for  such  relief 
as  the  House  might  deem  proper.  The  House  disposed  of  this 
petition,  which  was  caustic  in  tone,  by  laying  it  upon  the  table, 
and  nothing  was  heard  of  it  afterwards.1 

However,  as  we  have  already  seen, the  claims  of  large  numbers 
of  other  loyalists  were  paid  in  money  on  a  liberal  scale.     Still  others 

1.    Journals  of  the  House  of  Commons,  XLII,  551,    552. 

47 


received  compensation  in  the  form  of  appointments  to  offices 
of  emolument  and  honor  under  the  Crown.  Various  executive, 
judicial,  and  fiscal  positions  in  the  Bahamas,  Lesser  Antilles,  and 
Bermudas  were  filled  in  this.way.  Thus,  in  1781,  William  Browne 
of  Salem,  Massachusetts,  then  an  exile  in  England,  was  appointed 
governor  of  Bermuda.  Previous  to  the  Revolution,  Mr.  Browne 
had  been  a  man  of  note  in  his  native  province,  having  served  as 
colonel  of  the  Essex  regiment,  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  a 
mandamus  counselor.  It  is  said  that  the  revolutionary  committee 
of  safety  offered  him  the  governorship  on  condition  that  he  support 
the  American  cause;  but  the  loyalist  declined  and  retired  to 
England.  His  administration  as  governor  of  Bermuda  began 
January  4,1782,  his  reception  by  the  islanders  being  most  cordial. 
He  conducted  the  business  of  the  colony  sucessfully  and  in  harmony 
with  the  local  Legislature,  greatly  improved  the  finances,  and  left 
the  island  in  a  prosperous  condition  wdien  he  withdrew  to  the 
mother  country  in  1788.1  Another  Massachusetts  man  who  held 
office  in  Bermuda  was  Daniel  Leonard  of  Taunton.  A  member 
of  the  General  Court,  he  was  appointed  a  mandamus  counselor  in 
1774,  although  he  never  served  in  that  capacity.  In  1776  he 
accompanied  the  British  army  to  Halifax,  and  doubless  went 
thence  to  England.  In  recognition  of  his  past  services  and 
sacrifices  he  was  made  chief  justice  of  the  Bermudas.'2 

In  the  Lesser  Antilles,  the  Virgin  Islands,  St.  Christopher's 
or  St.  Kitt's,  and  Antigua  had  loyalists  among  their  officials. 
In  Antigua  the  post  of  attorney  to  the  Crown  was  held  for  some 
years  by  Samuel  Quincy  of  Massachusetts.  Like  his  fellow- 
colonials,  Leonard  and  Browne,  Quincy  went  to  England  after  the 
evacuation  of  Boston,  having  previously  been  solicitor-general. 
He  held  the  attorneyship  of  Antigua  until  his  death  in  1789.  3 
Another  fugitive  from  Boston,  Nathaniel  Coffin,  was  appointed 
collector  of  customs  in  St.  Christopher's,  a  station  worth  ,£1,500 
per  annum,  and  occupied  by  Mr.  Coffin  for  thirty-four  years.  4 
James  Robertson,  attorney-general  of  Georgia  before  1779,  and 
later  a  member  of  the  House  of  Assembly  and  the  Council  in  that 
province,  went  from  New  York  to    London  in  the    fall  of    1782, 

1.  Stark,  Bermuda  Guide,  1890,  51-54. 

2.  Sabine    American  Loyalists,  1847,  418. 

3.  Ibid.,  551. 

4.  Ibid.,  221;   Winthrop    Papers,    XXIV,    151. 

48 


\'' 


and  about  a  year  later  was  appointed  chief  justice  of  the    Virgin 
Islands  with  asalary  of  ,£200  per  annum.1 

Besides  loyalist  officials,  a  few  others  of  this  class  went  to 
some  of  the  islands  among  the  Lesser  Antilles.  Thus,  in  Sep- 
tember, 1783,  the  family  of  Captain  William  Sutherland  of  the 
Queen's  Rangers  was  living  in  Antigua;-  and,  at  the  evacuation 
of  New  York  John  Cox  of  New  Jersey  betook  himself  to  St. 
John's  in  the  same  island,  whence  he  carried  on  trade  among  the 
West  Indies. ;j  In  1786,  another  refugee  from  New  Jersey, 
James  Stockton,  and  his  sister,  were  residents  of  the  Bermudas.4 
The  petitions  and  memorials  addressed  by  numerous  individuals 
at  New  York  to  the  commander-in-chief,  Sir  Guy  Carleton,  dur- 
ing 1782  and  1783,  to  be  permitted— if  not  assisted — to  depart  for 
the  archipelago,  the  name  of  the  particular  island  being  omitted 
in  most  instances,  suggest  that  Dominica,  Barbados,  and  other 
islands,  in  addition  to  those  named  above,  received  a  few  refugee 
settlers.5 

In  the  Bahamas  at  least  three  loyalists  held  offices  of  more  or 
less  importance.  One  of  these  was  William  Wylly,  whose  con- 
nection with  the  so-called  Wylly  affair  has  been  previously  nar- 
rated.6 He  had  been  a  resident  of  Georgia,  although  he  spent  a 
considerable  period  in  New  Brunswick  before  going  to  the 
islands.  In  New  Brunswick,  Mr.  Wylly  served  as  the  first  Crown 
counsel  and  registrar  of  the  court  of  vice-admiralty,  but  in  1787 
he  removed  to  the  Bahamas  with  his  family.  In  the  following 
year,  he  was  appointed  solicitor-general  and  surrogate  of  the 
court  of  vice-admiralty.  In  1804,  he  became  advocate-general 
of  the  vice-admiralty  court.  By  1812,  he  was  chief  justice,  and 
two  years  later  exchanged  with  the  attorney-general.  In  1822, 
he  wras  transferred  to  the  chief  justiceship  of  St.  Vincent,  one 
of  the  islands  of  the  Windward  group.7  Another  refugee  who 
served  as  chief  justice  of  the  Bahamas  was  Stephen  De  Lancey, 

1.  Second  Report,  Bureau  of  Archives,  Out.,  Pt.  II.  1132,  1133. 

2.  Report  on  Am.  JIss.  in  the  Roy.  Inst,  of  G.  Brit.,  IV,  374. 

3.  Second  Report,  Bureau  of  Archives,  Out.,  Pt .  II,  929. 

4.  Ibid.,  Pt.  I,  III. 

5.  Ante,  p.   15. 

6.  Ante,  p.   31. 

7.  Lawrence,  Footprints,  107. 

49 


formerly  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  first  battalion  of  the  New 
Jersey  Volunteers.1  William  Hutchinson  of  Massachusetts  also 
held  an  office  in  these  islands.2  Sabine  thinks  that  Nathaniel 
Hall,  collector  of  customs  at  Nassau,  New  Providence,  who  died 
in  icSo7,  was  likewise  a  member  of  a  loyalist  family.3 

Jamaica  furnishes  at  least  one  example  of  a  loyalist  office-holder 
albeit  of  inferior  rank,  in  the  person  of  Adam  Dolmage,  a  former 
citizen  of  New  York,  who  was  appointed  by  the  Governor  on  May 
i,  1 79 1,  to  act  for  twelve  months  as  deputy  registrar  of  the  high 
court  of  chancery  and  clerk  of  the  patents  of  this  island,  in  place 
of  William  Ramsay,  who  was  about  to  leave  for  England  for  the 
benefit  of  his  health.  Some  years  later,  (that  is,  on  January  7,  1815) 
Mr.  Dolmage  was  appointed  clerk  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  about 
the  same  period  served  as  clerk  of  the  Surrey  police  court.4  Isaac 
Hunt  of  Philadelphia,  after  being  carted  through  the  streets  of 
that  city  by  a  mob,  departed  for  the  West  Indies,  where  he  took 
church  orders.  Subsequently,  he  removed  to  England,  and 
became  tutor  in  the  family  of  the  Duke  of  Chandos.  It  may  be 
added  that  he  was  the  father  of  Leigh  Hunt,  one  of  the  most  emi- 
nent literary  men  of  England  in  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth 
century.5 

1.  Sabine,  American  Loyalists,   1847,  255. 

2.  Ibid.,  378. 

3.  Ibid..  342. 

4.  Record  in  possession  of  the  author. 

5.  Sabine,  American  Loyalists,  374. 


50 


THE  OHIO  STATE  UNIVERSITY 


The  Ohio  State  University,  located  at  Columbus,  is  a  part 
of  the  public  educational  facilities  maintained  by  the  State.  It 
comprises  seven  colleges  and  a  graduate  school: 

The  College  of  Agriculture, 

The  College  of  Arts,  Philosophy,  and  Science, 

The  College  of  Education, 

The  College  of  Engineering, 

The  College  of  Law, 

The  College  of  Pharmacy, 

The  College  of  Veterinary  Medicine, 

The  Graduate  School. 

[Note:  The  University  publishes  a  bulletin  descriptive  of  each  college, 
Copies  may  be  obtained  by  addressing  W.  E.  Mann,  University  Editor, 
Columbus,  Ohio,  and  stating  the  college  in  which  the  writer  is  interested.] 

The  Ohio  State  University  Bulletin  is  published  at  least  twenty  times  (hiring  the 
year  as  follows:  Monthly  in  July,  August,  September  and  June,  and  bi-weekly  in 
October,  November,  December,  January,  February,  March,  April  and  May. 


FOURTEEN  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 


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AKK  i  4  2003 


MAY  2  ?  Wb9 


LD  21-100m-2,'55 
(B139s22)476 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


